Coming Down
by ScarletRogue1881
Summary: The X-Men are facing a new enemy (not really), one that could be the end of them. Rogue's returning after her departure four years ago, will she be accepted with open arms? Find out in the next episode! Set six years after the end of the show. Sorry, I suck at summaries.
1. Precipice

**A/N: Hello, lovely reader, thanks for taking time out of your busy life to read this! First off, I'll have to warn you that this is the first story I've written in a while, so really it's kind of helping me get back into writing. Also, I'm really no good with accents, so you'll have to use your imagination.**

 **This first chapter took me AGES to get out, and I still feel like it may be a bit too "heavy", but oh well, live and learn, I guess. Rating is for language for now.**

 **Reviews and comments are accepted and appreciated, no pressure though.**

 **Precipice**

 _Happy birthday, Rogue._ I thought to myself as I blew out the lone candle on the red velvet cupcake. Twenty-three years old with a life just as fucked up as it was when I was fifteen. It was nobody's fault but my own, I guess; I had a habit of messing things up like Irene always said; I'm my own worst enemy and I have an insatiable need to destroy myself.

Leaving the X-Men and New York seemed like a great idea at the time; I wasn't happy there and I felt suffocated. And of course, I thought I knew better, I thought there was no one better to look after me than myself. Now here I am, living in a rundown apartment in California, working as a mechanic making hardly enough money to pay rent and buy food, but oh well, adult life is great!

I should've listened to Logan, he told me straight out that I'd struggle; he even offered to let me stay in the apartment he owned in downtown Bayville, so I'd be away from the mansion, but close enough to ask for help. I knew that if I called him right now and ask him to bring me back to New York, he'd be here in a heartbeat, but I'm stubborn and I've always found it hard to own up to my mistakes; yet another character flaw I need to work on; I'll add it to the list.

Logan kept in touch though, he even sent me a pretty silver charm bracelet for my birthday; god, I missed him. I had a sneaking suspicion that he knew I wasn't in a good place, but I think he wanted me to actually come out and say it.

A loud bang on the door made me almost jump out of my skin. It's just past eleven at night, who the fuck is stupid enough to disturb me?

I stood up from where I was sitting on the floor and marched over to the door, fully intending to unleash a hoard of very strong words at my late-night visitor. Yanking open the door after removing the deadbolt, I was surprised to see a leggy blonde standing there. Well, I was surprised until I put two and two together.

"What do you want, Raven?" I asked tiredly, leaning against the doorframe.

"Can I come in?" Her voice made me grind my teeth; almost six years of no contact, now here she is, probably needing my help with something.

"Maybe when you tell me why you're here."

Mystique sighed and crossed her arms. "I need your help."

"Oh, big surprise and here I thought you wanted to have some mother-daughter bonding time." I scoffed as I rolled my eyes; a little voice in my head told me to slam the door right in her face, _quiet down Wolvie_.

"I was thinking I'd be able to have a mature conversation with my adult daughter, I guess we're both disappointed here." Raven barbed, she'd never been able to hide her venomous nature for long.

"Are the X-Men kicking your ass again? Magneto not treating you right?"

Raven stepped closer to me, so I pulled the door tighter to me, ready to lock myself in if things turned sour. "I'm here on behalf of Xavier."

The laugh that came out of my mouth was unexpected almost as much as her statement. "Why do I not believe you?"

"Believe what you want, Rogue, you always do. But if it'll make you feel better, maybe you could call up Wolverine and ask him since the two of you are so close."

"Is that how you found me, through Logan?" No, Logan wouldn't out me like that, he said it himself, as far as he's concerned I'm his daughter and he'd fight to the death to keep me safe; then again, my mother's very good at getting information out of people, especially men.

"No, Charles told me. Oh, don't look so surprised, do you really think he'd just let a mutant as powerful as you just fly off the radar? Oh no, he's kept his eye on you." I wanted to slap the smugness of her face and then slap Xavier; free to leave? My southern ass. "Now, are you going to let me in so we can sit and talk like adults?"

 _Shut the door, kid, and lock it. Don't let her worm her way back into your life. You don't need her._ Seriously, Wolvie, I can handle her. As I had this small mental conversation, I moved away from the door and gestured for her to enter. The look of disdain on her face made me slightly ashamed of the shithole I'd been calling home for the past couple of months.

"It's not as bad as the Brotherhood's house," I mumbled as I closed the door and kept my eyes on my shuffling feet; being in the small living room with a woman I called my mother for the first fifteen years of my life made me feel very small and vulnerable, the way she always made me feel.

She huffed in response as she sat down on the green threadbare sofa, she then started to rummage through her pristinely white handbag before pulling out a neatly wrapped box and offered it to me. "Happy birthday, Anna."

I hesitantly accepted, half expecting it to blow up in my face. I unwrapped it slowly as I took a seat in the secondhand leather recliner. Opening the box, I found a pair of beautiful satin emerald green gloves. Running my unclothed fingers over them, I marveled at just how soft they were before my mind told me to say something.

"I don't need gloves anymore," I said quietly, my eyes focused on the gloves, not wanting to make eye contact with Mystique.

"I know, you've finally mastered your "curse", but I thought they'd be a nice reminder of what you are."

My head shot up as I glared at the shapeshifter. "Reminding me that I'm a leech? What a wonderful present." I snapped, throwing the box and the gorgeous gloves on the cluttered coffee table.

"Xavier and his little team are facing something new, he calls himself Mr. Sinister and he's proving to be a huge problem," Raven explained as she inspected her talon-like nails.

"And that's my problem because?"

"It'll be everyone's problem if this . . . man isn't stopped." The seriousness of Raven's voice made me halt in my outrage at the offensive gift; this was a voice I seldom heard, but it was one that I never forget because that voice means that shit is about to go down.

"What's he done so far?" I asked quietly.

"He's been experimenting on mutants, enhancing them, giving their powers a considerable boost," Raven paused, seemingly gathering her thoughts. "We think he's creating an army, we're not quite sure what he wants, but if he's allowed to continue what he's doing, then we're going to have a real fight on our hands, one that may be out of our league."

"We fought Apocalypse, practically a god, and won, I'm sure taking down a couple hopped up mutants would be just another mission."

"So far, the X-Men have encountered three of his guinea pigs; Cyclops was in a coma for four days, Kurt and Colossus were beaten to a pulp, the rest of the team didn't fair that well either."

Okay, that shocked me, Kurt and Scott? Sure, they sometimes had bad days when their attention may be impaired, but Colossus? The six foot seven Russian tinman? That is some serious shit.

"And that's why you're with the X-Men? Because there's a greater evil?"

"Well, not really, I wanted to be closer to Kurt, he's my son and I want to have him in my life."

I snorted at that. "Why? Because you've suddenly found your maternal instinct? You threw him into a river when he was just a newborn, you made no effort in his life until he joined the X-Men, until you knew he was a mutant and could be useful to you! If you care anything for Kurt, leave him alone, get as far as possible away from him."

"What Apocalypse did to me made me realize a couple of things. My life could be over any minute and the only thing I'll be remembered for is all the damage I did, I want to change that."

"You can change your outside, Mystique, but you can't change the inside, you'll always be a psychotic bitch," I muttered, was I being too harsh? Fuck it, it's midnight, I should be asleep now, I have a right to be angry.

"As a child, all I wanted was a family of my own, because mine didn't want me, but at the time I was convinced nobody would ever want an ugly blue girl, so I pushed that dream away and became spiteful at the thought of always being unloved." Raven stopped, I noticed that the roots of her platinum blonde hair had a slight red tint to them; her disguise was slipping.

"You don't have –" I said, slightly panicked at the emotional outburst of the woman who was the most stoic person I'd ever met.

"But then, I got my powers and suddenly, I could be anybody I wanted to be and anything someone wanted me to be." A bitter smile crossed her face, pearly white teeth gleaming. "And I guess that went to my head; all those people who ridiculed me for the color of my skin, I could become their dream and then take them for all they had. I don't know when, but I started to want more, I wanted to feel power over others, to make them feel small and worthless."

Wasn't this way too much to unload on the birthday girl? Oh wait, it's past midnight, no longer my birthday, guess it isn't too much.

"Then I found out I was pregnant and I remembered that all I used to want was a family; so, I did everything to make that happen; settled in a quiet house, created a whole nursery. But then, he arrived and I just knew his life would be just as miserable as mine was; how was I supposed to raise a happy, healthy child when I don't know the first thing about any of those things? So, I let him go. No, I didn't know if he'd survive or not. No, I didn't seek him out, but it was because I wanted better for him." Mystique's voice had gotten thicker; this was the most emotion I'd ever seen from her.

"I met Irene soon after that, and I instantly saw something in her; she wouldn't care what I looked like, she just cared about me because of who I was. She made me happy and she always wanted me to leave Magneto's side, live a somewhat normal life, but I couldn't, I was addicted to the chaos."

Her head raised and she met my eye, her previously baby blue eyes now had a distinct yellow gleam. "Then Irene told me about a little girl, who she'd seen so much of; she was convinced that you were a miracle who would change things for the better."

"Let me guess, she was wrong?" I mumbled, dropped my head and staring at my interlocked fingers.

"No, she was completely right, Anna, because you were a miracle for her. For me, you were a test, to see if I could be a good person, and I failed that because I knew you'd grow to be unstoppable and the possibilities just flooded my mind,"

Please, don't start crying, I'm not qualified to deal with that. I already felt unbearably uncomfortable.

"And for that, I'm sorry, I shudder to think how you might've turned out had it not been for Irene; you'd probably be ten times as worse as me,"

Mystique stopped again, but I got the vibe that she was finished speaking. I wasn't quite sure what to do; do I go over and hug her? She is, whether I like it or not, my mother and she did provide for me all through my childhood, sure I didn't see her very much, but as a child, I loved her more than anything.

"Do you want half of my birthday cupcake?" Stupid. That was a stupid thing to say, a woman has just told me her life story and I offer her a small piece of cake.

But she laughed and ran a hand through her hair. "No, I've said my piece, told you the situation, nothing more for me do to here. It's up to you if you want to help or not. I should be leaving, anyway, I'm supposed to be seeing an old friend in London in the morning."

I nodded and stood up as she did the same; she cast one last distasteful look around my apartment before she headed for the door.

 _Say something, Rogue, she apologized to you for the first time ever, she wants to mend things_ , I frowned, the Kurt in my head wanted me to give her another chance, maybe the real one likes having Mystique in his life.

"Thank you for the gloves, they're lovely, I'll probably need them with how cold New York's gonna be,"

Mystique stopped with her hand on the door handle and turned to look at me, her eyes looked worried but a soft smile was on her face. Is this really the woman I called my mother for all those years? She's the one who's told me as long as I can remember; people don't change their ways, they just get better at hiding them.

"I'll see you there, Anna." And with that, she was out of the door.

Sighing, I locked the door and retrieved my cupcake and sat at the shabby excuse for a kitchen table. Picking at the cake, I had to laugh at myself; I'd always told myself that returning to the X-Men would never happen, it was too stressful and stifling; I'd much rather jump off a cliff than go back, and here I am, just agreed to go back; it's like standing right on the edge of that damn cliff, I know there's raging waters waiting for me, but who knows? Maybe I'll find a way to float.


	2. Float

**A/N: Hey guys, I am SO sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out, I rewrote it so many times and I'm still not too happy with it, but I thought I should at least put something out and maybe in the future go back and edit it.**

 **Thank you to everyone who's liked, followed or left a comment, it means the world that people actually have faith in this story and me, I'll try my hardest to make you proud!**

 **Like always, I own nothing but the story line, even though I'm sure it's been done countless times. Any comments or suggestions are always welcome (Do I sound too desperate?) Anyways, I've said enough, I'll shut up now. Enjoy the story!**

After three days on the road, I'd finally arrived back in Bayville, New York. It was strange being back here and as I climbed out of my shabby pickup truck, I noticed the mansion was under repair, a blue tarp covered one of the large bay windows and the corner of the building looked like it had been blasted off.

I knew from Logan that Xavier had shut down the mansion as a school; he wanted it to be a safe haven for young mutants, but since it doubled as the X-Men's base, it was the target for numerous attacks from the Brotherhood, other pissed of mutants and the new anti-mutant group, Friends of Humanity, so really it was no place for children; now it was purely X-Men business. At least it'd be a bit quieter.

"Rogue!" The wind was knocked out of me as my old roommate Kitty Pryde ran into me and gave me a tight hug.

"Hey Kitty, I missed you, too," I laughed as I patted her back and then pulled away; she hadn't changed much in the six years I'd been gone; still the small little bundle of excitement with her hair in a high ponytail that swung with her movements.

"Oh wow, look at your hair," She noted, the smile on her face was a nice, familiar sight.

"Yeah, I kinda got sick of dying it and straightening it." I used to have to get up two hours earlier than her to work on my hair; it was naturally curly and it took a lot of work to get it in order, if I didn't dry it properly after the shower, it'd look like an afro. As for the color, I'd like to think I'd gotten over my gothic faze, and went back to my natural red.

"You look totally different! Like in a good way, though, you don't look so scary anymore," Kitty stopped, her bright blue eyes widening slightly. "Not that I was scared of you, or anything, but others totally were. Want help with your bags?"

"Nah, it's okay, only got the one," I replied, going round the back of my truck and retrieving my small rucksack from the backseat.

"Is that seriously all you have?" Kitty's eyebrows pulled together and I rolled my eyes but smiled.

"Yes, unlike some, I don't need fifty dresses and two hundred pairs of shoes." I mocked and headed toward the front door; Kitty skipped along beside me. I tried to hide the nervousness I was feeling as I open the door and walked inside.

Standing in the lobby, memories flooded my head of my time here; when Bobby slid down the banister and ended up breaking his arm, running around after Kurt when he ate the last of my cereal, I know that my time here wasn't all bad, there were some good memories; but I'd felt like I was in a cage; just sitting around waiting for the next fight.

The strong smell of sulfur signaled the arrival of my furry blue little brother, Kurt, he smiled at me, showing his sharp teeth, but there was a hint of sadness in his yellow eyes.

"Hey Rogue, I'm glad you're back, I didn't believe Raven when she said you were coming," Kurt had definitely had a growth spurt since I'd been gone, at a guess, he'd have to be at least six foot one.

"What can I say? Mystique really sold it to me," I replied lightheartedly, but instantly realized my mistake when both Kitty and Kurt's face fell.

"You're only here because Mystique spoke to you? I thought you were just coming home," Kitty asked, coming to stand in front of me to look me in the eye.

"Does it really matter? I'm here to help with Sinister," I muttered, feeling mightily uneasy. "Look, I've had a long drive here, I'd like to get some rest. Where am I staying?"

"Jean's old room is empty, I guess you can stay there," Kitty replied, but the energy from her voice was gone, after speaking she walked off toward the kitchen. So glad to see Kitty still gets offended over the smallest thing.

Turning to look at Kurt, I opened my mouth to speak but he got there before me. "The Professor will probably want to talk to you." He mumbled and then bamfed off before I could say anything else.

"It's good to see you again, Rogue," The Professor said as soon as I walked into his office. Driving over here, I kept running through my mind the things I wanted to say, I wanted to have a go at Xavier for keeping tabs on me and for telling Mystique where I was, but as soon as I entered the office, I felt nothing but relaxed and happy to see him again; maybe that was his doing.

"Same to you; it's strange being back though, especially since there's no screaming kids running down the hallways," I mused, sitting in the seat in front of his desk.

"I assume Raven has informed you of our problem," O…kay, so straight into business, that's fine, I can deal with that.

"Yup, Mr. Sinister, hopped up mutants, evil intentions to take over the world, the usual," I shrugged nonchalantly.

"It's a little bit more than that, I'm afraid, Rogue," Xavier sounded more tired than usual, the wrinkles on his forehead more pronounced; had he just aged that much since I left? Or was this Sinister thing taking its toll on him? "He seems intent on collecting powerful mutants and not just giving their mutations a boost, but also giving them new powers."

"Mystique did tell me about the ones you've already come across; did they really down Colossus?"

"Yes, Mr. Rasputin was incapacitated to quite a serious degree; Hank had trouble treating him because we couldn't get him out of his steel form, but he's recovered well, already back in action." The Professor wheeled himself around the desk to be by my side.

"You've gotten control of your skin," he said, his eyebrows furrowed. "How did you manage that? We worked for two years and didn't get anywhere near control."

"Oh, I don't know, I was just meditating a lot, maybe being away from here, being somewhere where I could just focus on myself for days on end without being disturbed might have helped. But it sure was a surprise; I mean, I was concentrating so much I thought my head would explode and then something just snapped," I let out a small laugh as I clicked my fingers to emphasize my point. "The first thing I did was run out into the street and touch the first person I came across; nearly gave the poor old woman a heart attack."

The little smile on my face disappeared at Xavier's concerned expression, I was about to ask what was wrong, but he spoke before me; people have to stop doing that.

"I'm sure you had a tiring journey here and you'll want to rest; Jean's old room has been made up for you," I took that as him dismissing me, so I left without another word.

Why did I find it funny that I was given Jean's room? The girl I used to envy so much it hurt; she seemed perfect in every way, smart, popular, pretty; the things I'd never been. Scott's interest in her just made it worse. Four years ago, before I left, I'd finally gotten over my little flame for Summers and in turn, my jealous of Jean, not that I ever tried to bridge the gap between me and Grey.

As I walked down the once familiar hallway toward the room, I wondered if Kitty had kept our old room; I'd left a few of my things, mainly because I packed in under twenty minutes when I decided to leave. Just as I arrived at Jean's old room, I heard a door a couple rooms down open, I turned and I felt my heart stop for a second.

There stood Remy LeBeau, the person who brought so much frustration and excitement into my life. His hair was a little longer, almost brushing his shoulders and it looked like he'd bulked up a little bit but not in a way that he looked like a body builder. His strange, striking eyes bored into me for a second, before he turned back around into his room and slammed the door, making me jump and come back to my senses.

I wanted to talk to him, tell him that I had missed him and explain why I ignored his calls; but how do I start? And would he even listen to me? I sure wouldn't. I shook my head and entered my new room, throwing my backpack into the blue arm chair in the corner of the room.

Looking around the room, there was no indication of who the past occupant was, I doubt I'd be staying around long enough to make the place my own. I let out an indulgent sigh as I sat down on the soft double bed, it was a massive improvement on the lumpy piece of shit I'd been sleeping on the past few years.

I unlaced my boots before sprawling out on the bed, the exhaustion of the past three days crashing down on me. A thought drifted through my mind that I should probably drop in on Logan. It can wait, he'll understand, he knows how much I need my sleep.

The last musing in my mind was what I'd say to Remy, I knew I'd have to talk to him sooner or later, but he's always had a way of making my mind blank, whether it was with his terms of endearments or one of his devilish smiles, maybe Kitty would help me out, lord knows she owes me it with how many times she asked me for advice with Avalanche.

"Wakey wakey, Rogue, dinner time," I cracked opened one eye to see my blue elf of a brother smiling down at me, I guessed that he wasn't still upset over my earlier comment about being here.

"Great, I'll be down in five, gotta change," I mumbled out, my voice thick with sleep.

After I'd changed into a dark green turtle neck and light blue jeans, I made my way down to the dining room. My steps did falter slightly when I realized that Gambit would probably be down there; _Don't worry about it, Rogue, what's he going to do? If he says anything, I'll deal with him,_ thanks, mental Kurt.

Even though the mansion was no longer a school, the noise in the dining room could've fooled me, the loudest voice was Bobby, of course, closely followed by Jubilee. I took a deep breath before entering the room, while I'd work a lot on coming out of my antisocial shell, I still didn't like being the center of attention.

"Rogue! You're finally returned, huh?" Bobby greeted, his mouth full of food. I gave a small awkward smile and offered a halfhearted wave. The rest welcomed with smiles and comments about how they missed me, it took all my self-restraint not to roll my eyes. Even Jean said she was happy to have me back here. Remy wasn't anywhere to be seen, not that I was looking for him.

I took the empty seat in between Kurt and Rahne and within seconds everybody had went back to their previous conversations, the momentary "excitement" of my return had passed, thank the lord.

"Hey, where's Logan?" I asked to no one in particular as I helped myself to some apple juice; my stomach rumbled as I looked at the food, it'd been a while since I'd had a proper meal.

"Him and Storm are in New York City, trying to get some more allies." Kitty answered from her place across the table from me. "They're always off somewhere asking for help."

"The more help, the better, I hate to say it, but we're out of our depth here," Scott said, his tone conveying how it pissed him off to have to outsource help. Yeah, I know I had a crush on him, but I'd realized just how much of a sore loser he was, at least when he lost it just made him try harder the next time.

"How come Mystique hasn't gotten the Brotherhood to join our ranks?" I didn't care to ask where my adopted mother was, she'd said she was going to England, maybe she was still there.

"Mystique abandoned them to join us; Avalanche, Blob and Toad are still causing trouble, but we've got bigger fish to fry right now," Kitty informed me, I didn't miss the way she said Avalanche, was she seriously still hung up on him? I thought she'd moved on to the Tinman.

"What about Pietro and Wanda? Or Boom Boom?"

"Tabitha's just dropped off the map, but the twins? You won't believe me but they're members of the Avengers now, rubbing shoulders with Captain America, being heroes and all that."

"You're fucking kidding me? Did someone knock their heads together and make them see sense?" I stared wide-eyed at Kitty, how just shrugged.

I knew that Captain America had been brought out of the ice, they'd finally managed to find the cure to save him; that phone call was the first time I'd ever heard Logan sound so happy and it warmed my heart that he'd gotten one of his closest friends back, friends were something Logan desperately needed.

After the little catch up session, I focused on eating as the others had conversations around me, I sometimes chipped in but for the most part I kept quiet.

While drinking some of my apple juice, Kitty kicked me under the table and quite hard, I glared at her before looking over to where she was gesturing with her head. Gambit had decided to join us. I wasn't unaware of the way things quieted down or the looks that were being shot between me and Remy, but I ignored them, just kept on eating.

He took the seat next to Jubilee and started a conversation with her, seemingly ignoring the looks, too. Of course, everybody knew what went on between the two of us and I wouldn't be surprised if people thought I left because of him, that obviously wasn't the case, well, not fully.

The rest of dinner went by uneventfully, Remy didn't say anything or even look at me and I just spoke to Kurt, Kitty and sometimes Rahne before making my excuses and retiring back to my room. I took the time to empty my backpack and put away the clothing, not that it took me that long, five minutes and I was back to sitting on the edge of the large bed, staring blankly at the pale green wall in front of me.

Leaving here was such a big leap, for years I'd been wanting to change myself because I wasn't happy in the slightest, but after being on my own for a few months I realized I still wasn't happy, I thought that maybe I was just an unhappy person, so I tried to change that, too; become more sociable, try and get some friends, it wasn't easy but I committed myself to the whole 'fake it 'til you make it' and I guess it did work slightly, I did make some friends back in California, not ones that I'd necessarily contact now that I'm here in New York, but ones that I could talk to and go out with while I was there.

It might be more difficult trying to pull off my new persona here, mainly because the people here know me already, they know how problematic and mean I can be. But am I really intending to stay here once the Sinister debacle is over? It's a nicer place to live, I don't have to worry about having food, paying rent or having heating, all I have to worry about is getting out of a mission alive.

A gentle knock on the door pulled me out of my thoughts; in the few seconds it took me to get over to the door I went through a mental list of who it could be; not Kitty or Kurt, they just come in, just like Gambit would, not that he'd be visiting anytime soon.

Jean stood on the other side, looking slightly nervous but still with a kind smile on her face, one that I knew I didn't deserve, not with the way I treated her when I was here last.

"Hey Rogue, I was hoping I could speak with you,"

"Uh, sure, come on in," I felt sort of stupid that I had to invite her in to her old room, but unlike some in the mansion, she was polite enough to respect others' space.

She sat in the armchair in the corner and look around the room. "What was I thinking choosing that shade of green? Any plans to change it?"

I rubbed the back of my neck as I sat on the edge of the bed facing her, feeling a bit uncomfortable around her. "I don't think I'll be staying here long enough for that."

"Oh, that's a shame, I know how much it means to Kurt and Kitty to have you back; they were heartbroken after you left. Logan missed you, too, not that he'd ever admit it, but he'd always be looking out the window in case you came rolling up the driveway."

"I'll admit, I missed them, too, but I don't regret leaving, it was nice to be away from it all, work on getting my head sorted." Yeah, I know lying is bad, but that's technically only half a lie, I did do some work on the mental side of things and finally had the breakthrough I'd been dreaming of for years.

"Anyways, not what I came to talk about. Gambit." The look on my face made her pause and baulk somewhat. "I know it's none of my business but –"

"No, it's really not," I spat, my hands clenching in the bedsheets and my teeth grinding together.

" _But_ if you're going to be staying here for any amount of time, I think it's crucial for the team that you air your grievances, I'm not saying throw yourselves back into a relationship, I just think you need to agree to be civil with each other; we've already got a battle coming, we don't need one at home, too."

"Jean, I appreciate it, but don't. I _will_ be civil with him, we're not going to start a screaming match, he's gone his way and I've gone mine, I'm sure he's landed on his feet and is working through a long list of rebounds or whatever."

The older redhead's eyebrows pulled together and there was a hint of sympathy in her eyes. "Is that what you really think? That Gambit is that cold-hearted? Because I can tell you that couldn't be farther from the truth. Sure, I can't read his mind properly, but I can get a feel of his emotions sometimes when he lets his guard down. And the first few months after you left, he was distraught, but of course, around everyone else, he was smiling, cracking jokes, but when he was alone, he was sad and lonely, it brought me down just being on the same floor as him."

I didn't want to hear this; I didn't want to hear how my selfish tendencies had affected someone I cared about.

"And I think you know better than anybody here that Gambit isn't very good at admitting his true feelings, so you need to be the bigger person here, sit down with him and talk it out, come to an agreement about where you both stand, not just for the two of you but for the good of the team."

"Did Scott get you to do this? He's always going on about the best options for the team. Would he be too uncomfortable to talk about relationships with me that he sent you to do his bidding?" As I spoke, I mentally scolded myself; this aggressive, defensive behavior was something I'd been working on getting rid of, it's just childish, but I can't help myself, it's my go to mechanism to protect myself from things I'm too cowardly to listen to.

The look on Jean's face wasn't one of being offended, it was sadness, not at my rudeness, but actually _for_ me. I _knew_ Jean was a nice person with such a kind heart and it was another thing I was jealous of.

"Gambit may act like an emotionally untouchable ladies' man, but deep down, it hurt him, I'd even go so far as to say you broke his heart." Jean said softly before giving me another soft smiling and then getting up to leave.

Once the door shut, I dropped my head into my hands. Coming back here was a mistake, I'm too much of a weakling to deal with this kind of stuff; fighting the bad guy? Let me at 'em. But dealing with relationships and that kind of shit? I run a mile.

Here I was thinking that I could just drift back to New York after floating away; hoping that everything would be the same. The thing about floating, though, is that it's all well and good until you've drifted so far from the shore and you don't know your way back. Maybe I should start swimming.


	3. Promise

A/N: So, this chapter took a while and I'm sorry for that, the creative juices don't seem to be running correctly right now.

But finally, chapter three is here! As always, feedback and reviews are greatly appreciated and helps the story progress. Thanks for reading.

To say I'd become rusty may be a huge understatement, after only twenty minutes of _basic_ training in the Danger Room I'm out of breath and have a stitch in my right side. Sweaty and panting, I watch as my fellow teammates whiz by me; Colossus charging full speed toward the "Sentinel" while Kurt pops up here, there and everywhere. Thankfully, Gambit was nowhere to be seen, I wonder if he'd just skipped or if he just didn't have to practice alongside the rest of the team.

It's not like I just sat on my ass while I was away, I did go running most days when I could be bothered, maybe I should have joined a boxing class or something.

"Rogue, I know you've just came back, but we can't have anyone here lacking; get it together!" Cyclops shouted from the other side of the room before turning on his optic blasts and propelling a flying Sentinel into the ceiling before it came crashing back down.

"I know," I muttered, knowing that he wouldn't be able to hear me, but I did try to get back into the action.

Gaining control of my powers had come with other perks; the powers I'd absorbed I could call upon, at least the ones that I'd had the most exposure to, like Wolverine's and Magneto's. So, channeling the old bucket head himself, I pulled his abilities to the front of my mind.

It. Felt. Amazing. Just to feel the metal around me, it made the hairs on my arms and on the back of my neck stand up, while also giving me chills. The fact that I could tear this room in two filtered through my mind, and I'm not sure that those thoughts could be solely blamed on Magneto.

I scoured the room, looking for who needed the help most. My eyes landed on Jubilee, who still wasn't allowed to go out on proper missions as Summers didn't think she was ready.

Easily, I lifted myself into the air, going higher and higher until I was eye-level with the thirty-foot Sentinel; it's focus was on the small girl who was throwing harmless firecrackers at it. So, I raised my hands and extended the power to grasp the metal giant.

"Might want to move, Jubes!" I called down, I didn't look to see if she heeded my advice, I kept my eyes on the robot as I concentrated on stripping away it's iron shell from its face; it was easy, like pulling down wallpaper. I got the sudden instinct to clench my fists, so I did.

The thirty-foot metal monster crumpled like it was nothing but paper; the yells and bangs behind me stopped as the ball of jagged iron fell to the ground with a loud crash. As I lowered myself to the ground I could feel their eyes on me and hear the whispering.

I took a deep breath as I worked on pushing Magneto back into his cell before I turned around and faced them with a smile on my face. "If Sinister's anything like this, I think we're in with a chance," _Keep smiling, stay confident, you totally meant to do that._ I moved some of my white fringe back behind my ear. "I might just be this team's lucky charm."

"That was _awesome!_ " Bobby exclaimed with a wide smile on his face; Scott and Jean didn't seem to share this opinion if their worried looks were anything to go by.

"And that brings a close to this session, go clean up everybody, same time tomorrow." Scott instructed, his eyes still on me, so I knew he probably want me to stay behind.

It took a few minutes for everyone to filter out and for the simulation to shut down, so we were just standing in a bare metal dome room. So, I was left facing Summers and Grey, the main team leaders.

"Rogue, I get that you want to help, but using those types of powers could go wrong; we don't know how much hold you have over them, they could easily spiral out of control which may cause more harm that good." Scott spoke slowly, as if he was talking to a child, while I may have been doing work on my social skills, one thing I didn't even bother trying to change was my quick temper, that would take too much work.

"Don't you think that's the reason why Mystique and Xavier wanted me back here? Because I _have_ all of these powers? To maybe give you guys a slight advantage? I'm practically a one-woman army here!"

"That's really not a good thing, Rogue, remember what happened before when you absorbed too much? Maybe it's the same if you keep calling up those psyches, if you keep using them they may take over." Jean, as always, trying to be the calm voice of reason with a soothing smile.

"Fine, I'll just rely on being a leech and knocking people out, without giving them a taste of their own medicine, sure, that's just great." I muttered as I turned and stalked out of the Danger Room, not waiting to hear either of their responses.

After a blissful shower, I ventured down to the common room, not really wanting to just sit in my temporary room in silence. I was surprised to see only Kurt, Jubilee and Rahne sitting around; then again, I guess now that most of the occupants are in their twenties and have a lot more freedom than they did when they were teenagers, they'd be out doing other stuff, rather than just sitting around watching TV or playing video games.

Maybe it was because this place didn't house as many people as it used to; from dinner last night, I'd heard talk that Sam, Amara and Ray had left, they stayed in contact with some people here, but they were either back with their families or doing their own thing. I wasn't too sure about Jamie or Sunspot. And those were just the people I knew during my time here, I knew from Logan that for the first two years after I left, there had been an influx of mutant children passing through the doors of Xavier's, yet none had remained after the school was shut down, not that I could really blame them.

Jubes and Rahne were busy reading celeb trash magazines and gossiping, while Kurt was raptly watching some cartoon, from what I could gather in the couple of seconds I was taking in the scene, it was about a grandfather and grandson going through portals.

"Hey Rogue, what you did in training was awesome!" Jubilee exclaimed when she noticed me in the doorway.

"It's too bad Cyke and Grey didn't think so," I muttered as I sat next to Kurt on the couch, he barely even acknowledged me, too captivated with the TV.

"They're both stressed out, you know, with the whole Sinister thing and the wedding," Rahne said almost absentmindedly while flipped through her magazine with a bored expression.

"Scott and Jean are getting married?" I wasn't sure if the cold feeling that washed over me was from the jealousy that Scott and Jean were really in love, even though I thought my infatuation with Scott was over, or maybe it was due to the fact that yet again, Jean was getting everything that I always wanted but never could get, and I don't mean Scott; just anybody who would love you enough to want to marry you.

"Oh yeah, they've been engaged for about three years, though, Jean kept putting it off but this time they've really started to get everything together; she's even got her dress sorted, I'm not much of a fan of it, I preferred another one she tried, but apparently, she values Kitty's opinion more than mine, but you know, whatever." Jubilee ended bitterly.

"So, they've set a date?"

"Oh yeah, October 12th, so save the date!"

I restrained myself from making the point that I probably wouldn't get an invite, and even if I did, I wouldn't really want to go; hopefully, I'll be out from here by then. Instead, I turned my attention to my fuzzy blueberry of a brother.

"Kurt, don't suppose you want to do something? I feel like I'm gonna go crazy if I just sit and stare at a wall."

"We can play pool?" Kurt offered, finally ungluing his eyes from the television set with a hopeful expression; I guess it wasn't really that common for me to actively want to do something social and it must have taken him by surprise.

"Sure, just don't raise the stakes too high; wouldn't want to swindle you out of your comic book collection."

I jinxed myself, that's the only explanation that I could think of after the third game Kurt beat me at. Pool had always been my game! Mainly down to the number of hours I used to play it alone; when I was a child, Mystique used to visit this friend of hers and because they were talking business, I'd have to find something to do; it was a big house however most of the rooms were sparsely furnished, but there was a room with just a pool table, I'd play for hours, normally having to stand on a beer crate to be able to reach the table. I'd even been able to score me some food money in California by betting against drunks in grimy dive bars.

"Since I am clearly the king of the table, I deserve a reward," Kurt proclaimed with a victorious, goofy smile.

"Unfortunately, I don't have much to offer, would you take seven dollars?" While it may have sounded like I was joking, it was the truth, I'd spent most of my money just getting here.

Kurt pretended to consider my offer for a moment. "As tempting as that is, I'd prefer something else. I want you to do something for me."

I visibly braced myself, expecting him to ask me to get revenge for him against Bobby for something stupid or maybe something more demeaning. "And that would be?"

"I want you to make me a promise; that you're not just going to disappear when this is over, if you need to get away, please tell me and stay in contact," he took a pause, but before I could respond he started again. "I'd also like you to give Mystique a chance – "

"Now hold on a moment," I interjected, but he carried on.

"I know you don't trust her and knowing what I know, I don't blame you, but I'd like to think you trust me, so when I say that I believe that she has changed, that she does want to be part of our lives in a positive way, that you'll accept it."

There was only a couple of seconds of silence, but it felt like hours. Kurt was staring at me with pleading eyes; I sighed loudly, I really must have changed in the years I'd been away from here, because in the past his puppy eyes never worked.

"You asked for _a_ reward, not two,"

"I won three games, so really, I still have another one to claim, but don't worry, I think I've asked enough for one day, I'll just wait for the right time for my last one. But please, Rogue, she wants us to be a proper family."

 _A proper family?_ And what in the world is one of those? Are we gonna have dinner together and talk about our day? Go on vacation and play board games? My face must have given away my thoughts, as I saw Kurt's shoulders slump and he lowered his gaze to the ground.

"I understand, I know – "

"I'll try, but I can't promise you more than that. I'll spend time with Mystique with you, but if she thinks we're gonna go on shopping trips and have girlie days out, then she's got another thing coming."

"No, no, that's enough for me," Kurt's smile was like nothing I'd ever seen before, he was practically glowing. "Can I – uh – can I hug you?"

I didn't even have to think about it, I set down the pool cue I'd been leaning on and walk around the table to him; he didn't waste any time in enveloping me in an almost bone crushing hug.

When we parted he looked serious again. "I want you to say that you promise."

"I already did," I argued lightly, he just raised his eyebrow and waited. "Fine, I promise won't disappear and I promise I'll _try_ to get along with Mystique as long as you're in the same room."

"Danke, Schwester. And now, my stomach is telling me it's time to eat."

"Are you sure you don't want to pinky promise, just to solidify this agreement?"

Again, Kurt pretended to think about my offer. "No, I think I'll trust you this time."

I let myself smile as he bamfed off in search for food. Kurt trusting me is all well and good, but I couldn't whole heartedly say that I could stick to my promise, mostly because I don't believe that Mystique has changed, I wondered if she gave him the same speech she did with me and he was foolish enough to believe it.

Shaking my head, I set about setting the table back up, even though I was usually the only one considerate enough to think about the next person wanting to play. As I did, a thought popped up in my head; if I was about to accept Mystique back in my life, I should probably reconnect with Irene; I still thought of her as my mother, even though she knew what Mystique wanted from me and didn't try to help me, she was still the one who gave me the most love and affection.

Back for only two days and already I've thrown myself into a tangle; it was sure to drain me, I was already fully aware of that being the case when I decided to come back here, this place had a really good way of making people face up to their problems. Makes me remember why I left in the first place.


	4. Explanations

**A/N: Two uploads in the same month? Christmas has come early! Or maybe just really late, but whatever. This chapter would've been up a week or two ago, but I ended up rewriting a large section of it. Also, I think this may be the longest chapter so far, so I'm pretty proud of myself.**

 **Anyways, I do hope you enjoy this entry and, even though I hate repeating myself constantly, as always reviews and feedback is more than welcome. Thanks for reading, lovelies.**

The Blackbird shook as a thunderstorm raged around us; looking around at my teammates, I was pleased to note that I wasn't the only one who was uncomfortable. Kitty's knuckles were white as she gripped the armrest, while Bobby had his eyes tightly shut, murmuring something inaudibly to himself.

"Times like these makes me realize how much we need Storm," Scott muttered from the cockpit as he messed around with the control panel to try to steady the jet.

I idly wondered if they did this on purpose, but at the same time I doubt the remaining members of the Brotherhood would just sit around checking the weather forecast waiting for a thunderstorm for their time to attack.

"It shouldn't take too long, it's only Avalanche, Blob and Toad, not the hardest or brightest," Jean spoke from her co-pilot seat.

"They can still do a fair bit of damage, and now that they don't really have a leader, they're going to be even more uncoordinated."

"Scott, don't you think that maybe they're doing this on purpose?" I perked up; Jean turned in her seat to gaze at me, as did the others on the jet, I could even feel a certain pair of red eyes almost burning a whole in the back of my head. "I mean, maybe they have found a new leader, _maybe_ this whole thing is to distract us from going after their leader, Sinister."

A silence fell, only interrupted by the onslaught of rain hitting the Blackbird.

"That's a mighty presumptuous theory, Rogue, what makes you think that?" Scott responded after a few moments.

"Like you said, they don't have a leader and we all know what they're like, they need someone to instruct them otherwise they'd probably self-destruct. And if Sinister really is this mastermind you paint him as, you'd think he'd have ways of putting us off his trail."

Okay, maybe I should've kept my mouth shut, the constant eyes on me was starting to make me want to shrink in my seat. Instead, I started to pick the shamrock green polish from my nails as another silence took over.

"Maybe you should look in their heads, Jean, see if Rogue is right," Bobby's voice wavered as the jet shook violently again, the lights flickered and some of the water bottles flew off the shelf they'd been placed on.

"It's not right to look into people's minds without their permission," Jean murmured softly, turning her attention back to the windshield. I rolled my eyes, always the saint.

After around seven minutes, the jet finally touched down in a disused junk yard, to the relief of all on board, Bobby even made a show of how grateful he was to be back on the ground, by falling to his knees and thanking the good lord for not letting the jet crash. It was a show that would've made Kurt proud, however, my brother was absent from this mission after he sprained his ankle during the morning's Danger Room session.

"Team B, you go east, stay alert and if you find any of them, tell the rest of us," Scott had to yell to be heard over the wind; I was beginning to think that maybe this kind of weather did have something to do with Storm, that she was in such a bad mood that everywhere was affected by it.

I guessed that I was still part of Team B, like I had been before I left. So, as I watched Scott, Jean and Bobby venture off westwards, I had an internal crisis; Team B consisted of me, Kitty and Gambit, when he'd first joined the X-Men he'd been put into Scott's team, however after he kicked up such a fuss and pissed Scott off, he was put onto my team like he wanted to be. Back then, it was nice to work together, now I understood what Jean had meant about bridging the gap between us to make work easier.

Kitty obviously wasn't unaware to the tension between me and the Swamp Rat as we walked between the mountains of rusting cars, they creaked as the wind blew against them.

"If the cars topple over, you'll grab me, right, petite?" Gambit said to Kitty as he warily eyed the vehicles; I trailed a few steps behind them, trying to keep my mind purely on the mission. The Wolvie in my head was wanting out, so that he could smell any danger before it was too late, however, even though I knew he was just wanting to help, I knew I couldn't give him control like that, especially since, like the real Wolvie, he _really_ didn't like Gambit.

"If I remember," Kitty's voice was unusually flat, a part of me thought that maybe she didn't like him either, if she blamed him for me leaving, but then the smarter part of me remembered that she had a history with Avalanche, and it didn't end well, so she'd probably not want to have to come face to face with him again.

We walked for a few minutes with no sight of any of the Brotherhood, until Bobby's panicked voice came through the earpiece.

"Rogue was right. Repeat, Rogue was right, they're not alone, they have Sinister's men helping them, they're – shit . . ." The three of us stared wide eyed at each other as we tried to hear what was going on. Bobby was struggling with something or someone. "Oh, h-hey there."

Bobby's faked a cheery greeting, but it was clear from his tone that he was scared of whatever was there with him, he took a breath to speak again but there was a loud crash followed by deafening siren like sound that lasted around three seconds, one that made the three of us cringe in pain, I wouldn't be surprised if my ears were bleeding.

It didn't even take a second for the three of us to instantly turn and start running in their direction; we got within a few feet of our landing point before a figure came into sight, it was a woman with longer green hair, wearing a very form fitting green and white catsuit. She walked toward us with her head held high, her stride oozed confidence; she wasn't worried about fighting us.

Before either me or Kitty could do anything, Gambit was already throwing a card toward her which she easily dodged with a sideways somersault, landing in a way that put any feline to shame.

Kitty and I exchanged a quick glance before we charged toward her. Gambit would've followed if it wasn't for the little goblin-like Toad, jumping on his shoulders, sending the Cajun face first to the ground.

I stripped off my black leather glove when I was in touching distance of the woman, thinking I could easily make contact with her while she went blow for blow with Shadowcat, however before my outstretched fingers could touch her exposed shoulder, she spun round, kicking Kitty's legs out from under her.

I expected a hit, but instead was struck with a nauseating bout of dizziness. I squeezed my eyes shut to try to stop the world from spinning around me and I could feel myself swooning before I felt a blow to my stomach that completely knocked the wind out of me.

My head slammed hard into the wet ground, mud splattered my face and I was sure I was going to have a concussion. I opened my eyes in time to see the woman aiming a kick to my side and even though I still felt like I was in a tumble dryer, I rolled away from the strike and in a split-second decision, pulled Magneto from his cage in my mind.

Like the previous day, I was filled with a feeling of immense excitement to feel all the metal around me, one that made me feel like electricity was tingling across my skin. Even though, I was still on the ground facing away from the woman, I set my attention on the stack of ran down vehicles behind me and pulled them toward the green woman. The screech of metal was music to my ears, I flipped over just in time to see a grotesque little man suddenly appearing next to the woman, grab her arm and the both of them disappear.

I had to push some of the cars in the opposite direction to stop them from falling on me. The world stopped spinning, so I slowly got to my feet, pushing some of my soaking hair out of my face. Kitty was back on her feet and was trying to pull some kind of goo from Gambit's face.

"What the hell is that?" I asked as I jogged over to them, fully aware of the splitting headache and sharp pain in my stomach, not to mention that I was starting to shiver from just how freezing it was.

"Toad shot it from his mouth," Kitty's lip was bust and she too was covered in mud. "It's not coming off, I think he's gonna suffocate."

Gambit was thrashing on the ground, seemingly desperate for the goo to be removed. Panicked flooded my body as I quickly thought of something to do. A thought did come to mind, a very stupid one that could kill Remy, but nothing else was likely to work. So, I shoved Magneto back in his place and instead brought forth Cyclops, as I felt him come forward I closed my eyes.

"Kit, you might want to stand back,"

She didn't need to be told twice and I heard her scrambling away. Since I didn't have much exposure to Scott's power, it wasn't very strong, it was so weak, as luck would have it, that it actually worked. I only opened my eyes for a second, the optic blast was enough to melt the goo enough for Gambit to be able to yank it from his face.

"Are you tryna' kill me?" Gambit yelled, when I had safely put Scott away and was sure I could open my eyes without causing some damage, I glared at the Louisianan.

"Are you being serious? I just saved your life! Or would you have preferred to have suffocated?" I shouted back, keeping eye contact with him as he rose to his feet.

"Would've been better than having my head blown off."

"At least having your head blown off would've killed you quicker,"

"Guys, can you please not start one of your infamous shouting matches, we have bigger problems. Yes, it probably wasn't the smartest decisions, but at least she you, Gambit." Kitty reasoned, wiping some of the mud from her face.

A staring contest commenced between Remy and I, neither of us wanting to stand down. It could've went on all night if it wasn't for Kitty pushing past us, heading in the direction that Bobby and the others went earlier.

"You're welcome, Swamp Rat," I muttered petulantly before following the younger girl, I heard him scoff before he stalked past both me and Kitty so that he was in the lead. A card ready in his hand for any further attacks.

"Where'd Toad disappear to?" I asked Kitty as I fell into step beside her.

"He bounced off after you started the car shower," Her eyes darted around, since it was late into the night there were plenty of shadows that could be hiding another attacker.

"Would've been a lot easier if we had Colossus with us," I noted, rubbing my hands together to try and generate some heat; they'd started to turn red from the cold, of course, I could put my gloves back on, but I wanted to be prepared.

"Yeah, but we thought this would be a simple job, like Jean said, Toad, Blob and Lance aren't usually that difficult to take out," Kitty responded.

Ahead of us, Gambit raised his hand in a signal for us to stop; when we did, there was a distinct sound of heavy footsteps sludging through the mud, coming toward us. The three of us readied ourselves for whatever was coming toward us. But we relaxed when the person came into view, at least for a second.

Making his way toward us, Cyclops was carrying an unconscious Bobby, while Jean limped beside him. They looked even worse than us, Cyke already had bruises blossoming across his face and Jean's usually sleek and shiny hair looked like a bird's nest.

"What happened?" Kitty asked when the trio reached us, Scott didn't stop, he continued to walk back toward the Blackbird.

"Rogue was right, Sinister's taken over the Brotherhood. They ambushed us. Bobby got the worst of it; there was this guy, all he did was touch Bobby and then he started to spasm, he started to cover himself in ice, shoot it from his hands. We couldn't get close to him without the risk of getting frozen ourselves, the rain didn't help much either." Jean explained, her face twisting in pain with every step she took, Kitty was quick to help her, putting an arm around her waist to take some of the weight off her bad leg.

"Which begs the question: how did you know, Rogue?" Scott's accusing tone made me stop.

"You think I'm in on this?" I asked incredulously. "Why? Because I used my brain and took a chance of putting two and two together?"

"It's just a little strange that you came out with that, I mean, you've only been back for what, three days?"

"So, I'm an undercover spy, now? Even though, if you ask Mystique when she comes back, I didn't want to come back to the X-Men at first. If I was working for Sinister, do you really think I'd need someone to come and beg me to return? Don't you think I'd just appear out of nowhere?"

"Rogue, nobody's saying that. Scott's just stressed with everything that's going on." Jean spoke softly from behind me, as while I was talking, I'd practically marched up to Scott's side.

I huffed out an unhappy breath, but stayed quiet as we walked back to the Blackbird.

Even with all the heaters on full blast in the Blackbird, I was still shivering in my seat. Everyone else had spare clothing stashed away, however I forgot about that aspect when I was boarding earlier in the evening. So, I was left in my cold, wet leather uniform, and since it was a new uniform and hadn't been worn in yet, it was chafing like a motherfucker.

Bobby had woken up about five minutes after Scott set him down on the medical table and after Jean gave him a quick look over, it seemed like he was completely fine. Kitty was curled up in her seat, peacefully sleeping as the Blackbird rocked in the wind.

As I shifted uncomfortable in my seat, trying to inconspicuously pull the leather away from the inside of thighs where it was hurting the most, the seat opposite me was taken. Gambit slouched in the seat, his strange eyes narrowed as he stared at me.

"What? You wanna have a go at me again for almost blowing your head off?" I snapped; before he could respond, I carried on. "I mean, really it's more like karma, you almost blew my hand off when we first met."

"It wouldn't have been that bad, just a little bang," Remy's lips curved at the side slightly as he spoke, but his eyes were still scrutinizing. "Why'd you come back? I doubt you did it out of favor to your mama."

"Not that it really has anything to do with you, but I came back because I owe it to the X-Men; if it wasn't for them, I don't know where I'd be."

I had to look away from him, in the dim light of the jet his red eyes seemed to be glowing and his gaze was making me feel uncomfortable, like he was staring right through me.

"If the X-Men mean so much to you, why'd you leave in the first place? You hurt some of them, real bad." So, that's what his angle was.

I sighed as I watched the twinkling lights below go flying by. "I had to get away, it was all getting too much for me," I hated how defeated I sounded, but then again, I always despised admitting my faults.

"And you didn't think to tell me that at the time? Instead of letting me wake up to an empty bed, wondering where you'd gotten to? Waiting for you to come back, wondering why you weren't answering your phone." Gambit's voice started to rise as he spoke; I noticed Jean cast a backward glance to us, while Bobby was quick to put on his headphones.

"I just wanted out of there, I didn't mean to stay away for so long, but I wanted to wait until it felt right to come back, sort my head and everything else out," I kept my voice low, not wanting to exacerbate the situation, and I was tired anyhow.

"You told Monsieur Claws, though, he liked to rub that it."

"I had to tell Logan, you know how he is, if I disappeared without telling him, he'd track me down. I wanted him to know that I was leaving of my own accord and that I didn't want him coming after me," I reached for the water bottle that was on the table in the middle of us, and started to play with the label. "It's a good thing I did tell him, I mean, if I'd just disappeared, don't you think he would've went after you first?"

Remy scoffed and finally took his gaze away from me, instead focusing on the dimmed light above his head. "We could've left together, you know I only joined the team because of you."

"You're still here, though," I muttered after taking a long drink of my water, I was beginning to feel the same way I did when Mystique told me her sob story; I didn't like people expressing their emotions since I usually don't know how to react to it.

A humorless laugh left Gambit's mouth as he closed his eyes. "Was waiting for you to come back, chérie."

"I'm sorry," It was practically a whisper, but he still heard it; he stood from the seat, I hadn't even noticed that he had been shuffling his cards in one hand.

"One thing I know about you, Rogue, you love the sound of sorry, even when you're not." And with that, he went back to his seat at the back of the jet.

I wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but truthfully, I didn't really want to know the answer. I looked around the Blackbird and saw that Kitty had awoken, her bright blue eyes trained on me, her expression questioning.

" _Are you okay?"_ She mouthed to me.

I just shrugged, I'd rather tell her when we were back at the mansion, where I could vent and let out my emotions without an unwanted audience. But if anything, this situation made me realize that I definitely needed to call Irene, I mean, that's what girls do when they're having problems, right? Ask their mothers for advice. And I knew that she was the mother that would actually help me, Mystique would tell me to get over it, that he's not worth my time; that is, of course, if I actually got her to listen to me in the first place.

Turning my attention back to the stormy night sky out the window, it was the first time I thought of my departure from New York as a mistake; when I left, I selfishly didn't think about how it would affect anyone else, I just wanted out and find a place where I could breathe and relax. I shook my head at myself; what's the point in thinking about what I could've done, of all the powers I've absorbed, I'd yet to come across one that could help me rewrite my own history and fix my past mistakes. So, instead I should find a way to fix them now, be a bigger person and own up to them. Is it too late to go back to California?


	5. Happy Reunion?

**A/N:** **Hi lovelies, if you've read this far; THANK YOU. I think this chapter may be shorter than the others, but I think the appearance of a certain character may make up for that, but I'll let you decide.**

 **I'm not sure if I've already said, but I'm really bad at writing accents and I know that can sometimes come across as lazy, but I'd rather it not be COMPLETELY terrible.**

 **ALSO, thank you to all of you who took the time to favorite and comment on this story. I probably should have said this at the beginning of the other chapters but it kept slipping my mind as I just wanted to get the story out there. HUGE thanks to: LEGNA, RisingPurple, Karen and the guests for reviewing. You guys really make this worth while and I'm sorry for not thanking you sooner. ANYWAYS, enough from me; story time.**

 **Happy Reunion?**

"I am impervious to your attacks!" Bobby's voice echoed through the hall as I walked toward the common area. "Come on, man, you can hit me harder than that."

Standing in the middle of the common area was Bobby, Jubilee and Rahne. It seems that in an attempt to entertain themselves, they'd duct taped a load of pillows and cushions to Bobby, making him look like that marshmallow guy from the Ghostbuster's movie. Jubilee had a small wooden baseball bat and was hitting him over and over while Bobby just laughed. It was good to see that yesterday's events hadn't caused him too much stress.

"Is this really how much life here has gone downhill? You do know that there's like three different game consoles and hundreds of TV channels you can be wasting your time on?" I muttered from the doorway, however, I was sure that they could see that I was amused.

"Hundreds of channels and nothings on, haven't you heard that before?" Bobby quipped before grunting at Jubilee's well aimed strike below the belt. "Hey! I know that bat is meant for hitting balls, but stay away from mine, Sparky."

Jubilee and Rahne dissolved into fits of giggles. "My turn!" Rahne called in a sing-song voice, reaching for the bat and if I wasn't mistaken I saw Bobby pale slightly; we'd all seen that Rahne had quite the swing from all the times we'd played 'mutant ball'; well they played, I just sat and watched from the window.

I left them to it and made my way to the kitchen, finding the resident doctor fixing himself a cup of tea.

"Hey Hank," I greeted, retrieving a soda from the refrigerator.

"Good morning, Rogue, it's good to see you're back, you look well," I'd always wondered how Beast was constantly in a cheerful disposition, but it was nice to be around him, his good mood was usually infectious.

"Yeah, California was a nice respite for me, the sun and beaches work wonders," I took a long draught of my soda, before a thought popped into my head. "Hank, you're like a genius, especially when it comes to all that science and genetic stuff; what do you think of the whole Sinister thing?"

Beast let out a heavy sigh as he stirred his tea after putting in some sugar, the amount would have made me sick. "I think he's in the ranks of Apocalypse when it comes to the extent of damage that he could cause, when we were first made aware of him, Charles and I didn't think much since we didn't think splicing mutant genes would work, that it would most likely kill the recipient, however after seeing that it _does_ indeed work and the nature of the mutations he's dealing with . . . well, let's just say the sooner we stop him the better, before his army grows any further."

I nodded solemnly, last night proved that they could easily down us, and that was just Toad and some green haired bitch that made me feel like I'd spent too long spinning in a chair.

"Do we even know where he's working from? Or any of his hide outs?"

"We've heard whispers, but none of them have proven useful; just a wild goose chase." Hank paused to take a sip from his mug. "Although, Ororo informed the Professor and I that we may be getting some outside help, people who have the right level of influence and resources to be an immense aid."

I was surprised I didn't snap my own neck with how quickly my head shot up. "Storm's back? Logan too?"

"Oh yes, I believe he's setting up a new Danger Room simulation."

Giving a quick wave of goodbye, I was out of the kitchen and almost jogging toward the Danger Room, almost running right into Piotr, I tossed a sorry over my shoulder as I continued on my way; first time seeing the Tin Man in years and I almost knock him down, then again, I think I'd be the one that gets injured in that situation, it'd be like headbutting a brick wall.

"Logan!" I couldn't believe the influx of emotions that passed through me when I saw the man who I thought of as my father again. I all but jumped on him, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck, I could tell that he was just as surprised as I was at my outward display of affection.

"Hey kid," He said with a chuckle as he returned the hug. "Miss me?"

I didn't bother hiding the smile on my face as I pulled away. "Nah, not really," I joked. "I mean, how could I since you demanded that I call you every other week?"

"We both know that nobody makes you do anything," Logan responded before turning back to the control panel for the Danger Room and started pushing buttons.

I noticed there was something off about Logan, he seemed more tense than usual which is saying a lot; maybe it's the current situation that's taking its toll on him, but with all the things he's faced in the past, I didn't think a mad scientist would be his undoing. But, I knew better than to ask him straight out, if it was something serious, I was sure, at least I hoped, that he would tell me.

"How have things been around here since I've been away?"

Logan shrugged nonchalantly. "Same old, doing odd jobs, every now and then we'd get a big one, nothing like what we're dealing with now, though," I hummed in agreement, from his tone I could tell that even he was worried about current events. "Enjoy California?"

"Yeah, it was nice, didn't realize how much I'd missed the sun," I paused, debating whether or not I should tell him how I really felt, then again, who else could I talk to it about? "I'll admit, I was a bit lonely; when I was here I always wanted to get away, find some peace and quiet and find a way to feel somewhat normal, but after a few weeks, I kinda missed it. Having a 'normal' life is boring; get up, breakfast, work, come home, dinner and then bed, I don't really like repetitiveness, I guess."

He huffed out a small chuckle. "At least having a routine is stable, not so many nasty surprises in the long run."

"Is that what you want? A normal life?" I couldn't really imagine Logan living like that, but maybe he could, maybe he'd change and blend in to the point where nobody would think that he was, at one point in his life, an unstoppable killing machine.

"Don't matter what I want." He muttered, _drop the subject_ was the hidden meaning.

"So, Mystique's on our side, can we actually trust her? I mean, you can smell when people are lying, right?"

Logan stopped messing around with the control panel and dropped into the seat in front of it with a grunt. "I think she just wants to survive what's coming. Chuck says she's being genuine, but it'll be a long time before I believe it," He turned the seat so he was facing me, his eyes watching me closely with a hint of concern. "You okay with her being here?"

"Don't matter what I want," I mimicked and perfectly, if I do say so myself. "Kurt's happy with her being here though, he's holding onto the hope that we can be a proper family, he made me promise to try. I even called Irene last night, I figured she'd know more about what's going on with Mystique, I only got the answering machine, though."

"Mystique hasn't told you?"

My heart skipped a beat as his words, panic flooding through my veins. "What?"

"I only know what I've been told, but apparently Irene's gone, just vanished. Chuck thought she could be useful, see if she could see what Sinister was planning, but Mystique said she was gone." Logan spoke slowly, as if to calm me.

Angry replaced my panic. "Why didn't she tell me when she saw me? Yeah, I get that Sinister is a problem, but I'd think that my mother disappearing would be a bit more fucking important!"

"You're asking the wrong person, kid, I doubt anybody knows why she does the things she does,"

"But she should've told me! Instead of letting me hear it from someone else," I'll be the first to admit that I have anger issues, but I'd never felt anything like this before; it felt like fire running through my veins, so much so that I felt I was overheating. I closed my eyes tightly to try and ground myself, the room felt like it was spinning.

"Kid, cut it out," Logan's voice was cautious and I felt him moving closer to me, but the words didn't really register with me, it wasn't until I heard something explode above my head that my eyes opened; instead of the room being filled with fluorescent white light, the red warning lights were flashing, pieces of the broken light bulbs scattered the floor.

"I need some air," I muttered, spinning on my heel and making a beeline for the door, not giving Logan a chance to respond, however, I doubt he would; he'd, at least I hoped, would understand.

Sitting on one of the patio chairs in the expansive backyard of the mansion, I breathed in the frigid morning air. My hands gripped the armrests as I focused on breathing deeply through my nose and out through my mouth, meditation had always been my friend, one that I could almost always turn to for help in figuring things out and calming a situation down.

As I took in some more oxygen, I noticed that the air had been tainted by cigarette smoke. I kept my eyes closed, I didn't need affirmation as to who my companion was, I was content in ignoring him, however taking a hint wasn't always one of his strong suits.

"You okay, chérie?"


	6. Bridges

**A/N:** **Yet again, I'm so sorry for the long wait between updates, college has been hectic leaving me with no creative juices. This is another chapter that I kept re-writing because I wasn't happy with it.**

 **Anyways, hope this chapter isn't as bad as I think it is, I just wanted to get it out and get on with the rest of the story. And as ever, I can't thank the people who have reviewed, followed and/or favorited this, you guys are just awesome!**

"Maybe you can ask Xavier to use Cerebro or something, make sure."

I heavy sigh escaped my lips as I stared down at my wolf socks, making the ears twitch every time I wiggled my toes, mainly to get some feeling back in them as it felt like that time Bobby froze my feet to the ground as a 'prank'.

"I think Mystique was telling the truth. Logan would've been able to smell if she was making it up and if she doesn't know where Irene is, then nobody does."

Since he'd joined me outside, I'd kept my eyes trained on anything that wasn't him; while he himself had never actually told me, the times I'd absorbed him I had learned that his charm was very much part of his mutation and that it works best through eye contact, since it was a hard task, for me anyways, to not find my gaze meeting his whenever I look at him, I make damn sure my eyes were occupied with insignificant things as if they were priceless relics.

"From what you've told me, your mother's a smart woman, so maybe she's wised up and decided to wash her hands of Mystique."

"She loves her, Irene would never just up and leave her." I muttered, even though it was something I'd never truly understood, Irene had always been so kind and pure, I could never get my head around just why she'd put up with Mystique as long as she had.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gambit flick his finished cigarette into the grass before he sat in the lawn chair next to mine. I expected him to say something, but he stayed silent, only the chirping of the birds broke the stillness of the moment.

"Why are you out here, Gambit?" I spoke after a minute that felt like an hour, finally turning to look at him; his hair was tied up and I'd be lying if I said it didn't look good.

"The Professor keeps going off at me for smoking indoors, something about second hand smoke,"

"You know what I mean, Swamp Rat," If I hadn't been so tired from not getting much sleep the previous night I would've been able to put a bit more malice into my tone, but instead it came out in a hushed murmur. After getting back to the mansion last night, Kitty had demanded a word to word re-enactment of the conversation I'd had with Remy on the jet and then we'd spent the rest of the night trying to decipher what he'd meant, not that we'd gotten anywhere.

"Well Cyke is always telling me I have to work on my teambuilding skills, so when I see a team member who's looking down and out, I'm gonna help,"

I had to scoff at that. "It's been six years and you've only just decided to become a team player, now? Surprised you made it this far."

"What can I say? I have a sparkling personality," Remy said in a deadpan tone as he pulled another cigarette from its carton and tapping it on the top of the box a few times.

"Another thing that's surprising is that they let you smoke at all, thought they'd want you at the top of your game." I muttered as I watched him light his cancer stick and inhale the toxins.

Remy gave an amused grunt. "Yeah, a few of them tried to get me to stop, but apparently, they didn't appreciate how grouchy I got,"

That did make me chuckle slightly; when we first got together I'd tried to get him to give up the habit but within two weeks, I ended up buying him a pack because I got sick of how testy he became, even if it meant that I'd have to put up with my bedsheets smelling of stale smoke.

"Chère, you know that I'm –"

"So, we're not too sure with how many people are coming, but to be safe we should set out fifty chairs, twenty-five on each side of the aisle," Kitty cut off whatever Gambit was saying as she came out into the back garden with a greying woman wearing a dress suit.

"Morning guys," Kitty greeted but she casted a wary glance at the both of us. She quickly turned back to the woman and led her up the garden, pointing out where flower columns would be placed, clearly enjoying her role as part of the planning.

"Scott and Jean are actually getting married," I muttered, even though I already knew this, it was still a weird concept.

"I wouldn't take it too seriously; they were supposed to tie the knot last year, but Jean pulled out at the last minute," I turned to look at him and found that he was already staring at me, he obviously knew about the crush I used to have on Scott, it was the basis of a lot of teasing on both sides, did he think I still held onto that?

"What were you gonna say before Kit came out?"

Remy shrugged and turned his focus to the clouds for a second before standing up. "It don't matter, chérie." And with that, he disappeared back into the mansion.

"And then Piotr came smashing through the wall, could've put the fucking Juggernaut to shame, holding the amulet and was like 'you looking for this?' Aw man, it was awesome."

I shook my head as Bobby flopped back onto the sofa after his reenactment of what was, to him, ' _the greatest mission ever'._

"Wasn't that the same mission where you knocked yourself out because you slipped on your own ice?" Rahne interjected with a smirk from where she was curled up in an armchair.

Bobby tried to splutter out some kind of rebuttal but soon realized it was useless and stormed out of the TV room. I was left with Rahne, a girl I didn't really know much other than she could transform into a wolf and was great at baseball.

"So, how come you're still here? Why didn't you go home like the rest of your team?" I asked, pulling my legs up under me to get more comfortable on the sofa.

Rahne put down the magazine she'd been reading to look at me. "This is my home."

"I always thought homes were supposed to be a safe haven, not somewhere that gets attacked by people who hate you."

"Believe me, Rogue, this place is a hell of a lot better than where I've been." She replied with a humorless laugh as she pushed some of her short brown hair out of her face. "The people here are my family. Sure, some of them have left but it's the ones who have stayed here through all of the shit that's went down who matter the most, the ones who have my back as much as I have theirs."

I nodded slowly in agreement. "Can't have a team without trust."

"I mean, it was difficult a few years ago when a few members of the team were upset since on of our own decided to ditch in the middle of the night without telling anyone," My eyes shot up to meet Rahne's, a cold expression on her face. "But we got over it, decided that if that said person could leave us so easily, clearly she didn't care."

"It wasn't like that,"

"You don't need to tell me that, we weren't friends. Maybe you should try to tell that to the brother who locked himself in his rooms for the first three days, or the best friend who couldn't eat because she was sick with worry," Rahne stood from the armchair and stretched, I could hear her bones clicking into place as she did. "Or maybe explain it to the man who always came back in the early hours of the morning reeking of booze and asking if you were home yet."

"That's enough, Rahne." Jean's soothing voice interrupted the tense atmosphere that the younger girl had created. My head dropped as I focused on my fidgeting fingers.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rahne leave the room and Jean occupying her seat. "Don't let her get to you, Rogue, she's very protective over everyone here, it's the first real family she's ever really had."

I shrugged. "It's fine, at least she's honest," I stopped for a beat, having to work up the courage to look Jean in the eye. "Was it really that bad?"

Grey sighed heavily as she leaned back in the chair. "You were definitely missed. You were one of the core members, sure you joined a little later than some of us, but you were still important . . . to all of us."

"All of us? Even you? I gave you shit most of the time all because I was jealous."

"That doesn't mean anything, I'll admit, it did hurt at the beginning, but now it's all just water under the bridge," Jean smiled softly at me, nothing but kindness in her eyes. "You're family, families have arguments and get competitive and jealous, it's okay."

I felt a pang of some sort of emotion I couldn't place, but it made me feel misty-eyed. "Thanks, Jean." I murmured, the smile on her face growing even brighter, I let myself return a small smile, it was all I could muster.

"Are you going to be around in October?"

"For your wedding?" I asked cautiously, she nodded softly. "I'll be here if you want me to be."

"Of course I want you here, didn't you hear a thing I just said?" Jean teased with a roll of her eyes.

A feeling of content settled over me, something on the very long mental list I'd be keeping was to mend any bridge that I'd destroyed in the past and the one between Jean and I was one I was dreading the most, which now I realized was just plain stupid, Jean makes it easy.

Jean suddenly sat up straight, making me jump at her abrupt movement. "Jean? You okay?" I asked hesitantly.

Before she could respond, a loud alarm started to sound throughout the mansion, one I knew all too well even if I'd only heard it a couple of times, it wasn't something you easily forgot. It was the alarm to signal the occupants that they're under attack.


	7. Under Attack

**A/N:** **Quick shoutout to all you lovelies who have favorited and followed this story and left reviews, you guys ROCK and keep me going with this story.**

 **I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but I hate leaving you guys waiting for the next update. However, I'm really excited about the next chapter since some new/familiar characters will be popping up.**

Dense smoke filled the corridor making it difficult to breath as I moved down it with Jean quietly following me. The alarm was still blaring which meant whoever set it off was too occupied to shut it down.

"Do you know where they are?" I whispered to Jean, hoping her telepathy would stop a surprise attack.

"Dining room, upstairs in the east hallway and heading toward Cerebro." Jean's reply was monotone, almost robotic as she spoke.

The dining room was closest to us, I readied myself before going in that direction. Since I was wearing a t-shirt, I wouldn't have to worry about people grabbing me, even though I didn't really like adding onto the number of people into my head I knew that it was something I had to use to my advantage.

As I approached the door I noticed that it was already cracked open slightly and I could hear movement in the room, I pushed on the door but it was quickly yanked open and before I could even realize what was happening, I found myself being throw across the dining room and crashing into one of the china cabinets.

Jumping back to my feet and trying to ignore the pain in my back, I focused on the man Jean was grappling with; he was dressed in a suit, looking like he'd just came here after a business meeting. Vaulting over the dinner table, I grabbed the smartly dressed man by the back of the neck and turned my skin on.

It didn't feel right, normally when it happened I instantly felt an influx of the person's emotions, psyche and with mutants, their power trickling into me, but now, it felt like I was being electrocuted to the point where I recoiled away from him and ended up tripping over a chair. I could feel my skin turning itself on and off again in quick succession, making me feel like I had needles trying to get out from under my skin.

"You should really do some research before you do battle, girl, otherwise you're in for a nasty surprise." The man quipped without looking in my direction, he was too focused in trying to choke Jean out as he held her against the wall and from the look on her face, that wouldn't be much longer.

Still sitting on the floor after I fell, I kicked my leg out and managed to take both of his legs out, causing him to topple over and Jean slumped down, gasping loudly but she regain her composure in a heartbeat and from the look of concentration on her face, I could tell she was trying to do some kind of mental damage to the man, but before she could get anywhere with it another man appeared, the same grotesque little man from the junkyard that disappeared with the green haired bitch that got the drop on me, and like that day, he took the suit guy away.

"What the fuck did he do to me?" I yelled, itching at my arms to try and stop the stings.

"That was Scrambler," Jean panted out. "He messes with mutations, makes them go haywire."

"You don't say," I spat. Squeezing my eyes tightly shut, I attempted to calm my skin down, focused on my breathing and trying to stop the switch from flipping on and off. "How long does it take to wear off?"

"The only experience we've had with him is when he took down Piotr; he was stuck in his steel form for almost four hours."

I groaned but got to my feet. I knew I couldn't just sit on my ass for the next however many hours while there were still intruders around. Jean had her back against the wall, peeking around the doorframe for anyone else coming our way.

"Where to next?"

Jean shook her head, a slight look of irritation on her face. "You're forgetting he got to me, too. Right now, all I'm hearing is snippets of everyone, hard to pinpoint."

"You said Cerebro before, best place to go." I muttered, resisting the urge to scratch even more at my now reddened arms as I moved past Grey and out the door.

Before we even got to the hallway that led to Cerebro, it was obvious that someone else had beaten us here; the whole corridor was covered with melting ice from floor to ceiling.

"Bobby?" Jean called out quietly, her breath visible in the cold air.

His head popped out from behind a doorway and relief was evident on his face. Jean and I rushed over to him as best we could on the slippery floor.

"Scrambler?" Jean asked simply as she crouched down in front of him.

He nodded and leaned his head back against the wall. "Wouldn't get too close, Red, don't know when my next outburst will happen."

"Who was trying to get into Cerebro?" I inquired, Scrambler must've only just gotten to him and there was someone else heading this way.

Bobby let out a humorless laugh. "Not gonna believe this, seems like Sinister picked up Sabretooth as well."

I instantly felt a chill go down my spine while the Sabretooth in my head who I kept locked up tight rattled in his cage at the mention of his name.

"But he didn't get in, right?" Jean asked warily, her eyes drifting in the direction of Cerebro.

"Nah, got distracted by his mortal enemy," he responded faux-dramatically.

"If Logan's taking care of Creed, then we can go check out upstairs."

"And leave Logan alone with him?" I rebuked at Jean's suggestion.

"Rogue, I think he can handle it. How many times have they gone toe to toe, Logan always walks away." She replied gently. "And besides, I don't think he'd want us interfering with it, you know how he is with the whole thing."

I begrudgingly had to agree with her; Logan and Victor Creed had a complicated history, even with the both of them in my head, I couldn't even understand what caused it, they both seemed to either have forgotten how it started or reluctant to share.

"Are you going to be okay here?" Jean asked Bobby softly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, of course, I needed a sit down anyways."

The older redhead patted his shoulder before straightening up and carefully walking back up the hallway. I followed, placing a hand against the wall to try and steady myself, not that it worked very well, my feet still almost slid out from under me a couple of times but thankfully I managed to keep my balance.

"Scott!" Jean's panicked yell made my stomach flip as I reached the top of the stairs. She'd already sprinted toward Summers who was in a heap in the middle of the corridor; a small stream of blood coming from a cut on his left temple.

"What happened, sweetheart?" She murmured as she knelt down beside him and brushed his hair back from his face, I felt a wave of awkwardness as I watched from a few steps away.

"He came out of nowhere, didn't even have time to react." Scott sounded completely bewildered, I could even imagine that behind the visor his eyes would be huge, he suddenly jerked. "Where's Jubilee? She was with me."

"I'll look for her," I offered quickly, I didn't want to bear witness to any more of Jean caressing Scott's face; I never could stomach seeing PDA.

"Sparky, you in here?" I asked as I opened yet another bedroom door. I'd made it almost to the end of the west wing, checking each room not knowing if I was going to find Jubilee or whoever had attacked Scott; the tension was palpable.

"Rogue? Oh, thank god!" I felt my shoulders slump with relief at the younger girl's voice.

Jubilee came out from behind the chest of drawers she'd been hiding behind, a sheepish smile on her face. "Don't tell the others I was hiding, it's just after he took out Scott it kinda scared me."

"Your secret's safe with me, Sparkplug," I responded, giving her a small smile in return. "Who came after you?"

Jubes shrugged as joined my side. "Don't know, never seen him before, but he's a scary motherfucker I'll give him that, looked like a crazed wrestler."

"Sinister has quite the cast of characters, huh?" I muttered as we walked back toward where I'd left Scott and Jean.

Before Jubilee could respond, a loud crash resonated from below us, followed by a familiar animalistic growl. The human firework jumped at the sudden noise and grabbed my arm. My _bare_ arm, with skin that was going crazy.

The girl dropped to the ground and my head was swarmed with emotions; well, only one emotion stood clear, fear.

"Shit," I groaned, my hands pulling at my hair almost subconsciously as I tried to deal with the new entity screaming in my head and separate it from myself.

"Chérie?" I heard him running toward me as I slid down the wall.

"Don't touch me!" I screeched at him when I saw his outstretched hand near me, Remy understandably withdrew and turned his attention to Jubilee who was out cold.

"I'll take her down to Hank, then I'll come back up, d'accord?"

"What about Sinister's men?" The shrillness of my voice making even me cringe.

"Gone," Remy stated as he picked Jubilee up. "They really did a number on Cerebro though, completely destroyed."

It was the busiest I'd ever seen the med bay; Jubilee, Scott, Bobby and myself occupying beds. Jubilee was still knocked out, Bobby was too after Hank gave him a sedative in an attempt to stop him from freezing the room, all that was affected now was his bed which had a light frosting.

Kitty was pacing between beds, having returned from her breakfast date with Piotr about half an hour previously. Jean was sat next to Scott's bed, the two of them quietly conversing.

I turned my head at the sound of the doors whooshing open and instantly felt the tranquil energy that always seemed to surround Storm, however by her expression she was feeling anything but, her forehead was wrinkled and she had noticeable shadows under her eyes.

Ro's eyes, which were usually so bright and full of life now looked more tired and dull, surveyed the room, taking in its occupants and their conditions. She focused on me last and she approached me, a weary smile graced her lips.

"It's good to have you back, Rogue, I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Me too, it's nice to see you again." I replied truthfully, Ororo was like no one I'd ever met before, she always seemed so ethereal to me, I'd even go so far to say angel-like; beautiful, compassionate, but deadly when needed.

"Logan's cleaning himself up, but he's on his way down," She informed me before heading over to Hank who was occupied with studying something under a microscope.

I let out a sigh of relief, knowing that Logan was safe and unharmed enough to be up and about. My eyes drifted to Jubilee and that relief vanished and instead was replaced with crushing sadness. I thought my days of unintentionally leeching from people was gone, sure the effects of Scrambler was starting to wear off, the time between my skin turning on and off was now nearing ten minutes, but I still hated that somebody had to get hurt because of me.

It had always felt morally wrong to absorb someone, I thought of it probably the same way as the Professor felt about rooting around in someone's head without their permission or knowledge. I was stealing things from a person that I had no right to take, their memories being the major factor. Even though sometimes their abilities came in useful, especially Magneto's as of late, it was still outweighed by knowing that I was now privy to moments in their lives that was supposed to be private. I didn't consciously go delving in people's memories, but sometimes they popped up all on their own, usually through dreams.

Pulling my eyes away from Jubilee, I concentrated on the ceiling, counting the tiles while I waited for Logan.

I hadn't even made it halfway, only got to two hundred and seventy-four before the doors opened and Logan came striding in. Of course, he didn't have a scratch on him but I noticed an unusual sparkle in his eye; was that a slight glimmer of happiness?

"You okay, kid?" He asked gruffly as he dropped into the chair next to my bed.

"Gettin' there," I responded, I was sure he could see the suspicion in my eyes as I looked at him. "You?"

"Got some long-awaited good news," He said almost proudly.

"And what might that be?" I glanced around the room and all eyes, well the ones that were conscious, were looked over at us.

"We're going on a trip to New York City, visiting one of my oldest friends."


	8. Making Connections

**A/N:** **This was a chapter I've been looking forward to since I started planning this story, but I'm starting to think I bit off more than I could chew, at least I tried.**

 **If you're still reading at this point, thank you so much, I'm glad somebody has actually come this far! Also, don't be a stranger, leave a comment, especially if you have any ideas for things you want to see, only if you want to, of course :)**

My leg bounced with anticipation as I sat on the Blackbird. I was going to meet Captain America. Even though Logan told me two days ago, I still couldn't get over that, a man, no, a _hero_ I'd learned about in school and watched so many documentaries on as a kid.

Steven Grant Rogers was the true embodiment of a hero, one I'd always had an interest in and that interest was heightened by the presence of Magneto since he felt the same way, but even stronger. He believed he owed his life to the man, which was understandable, the Captain had saved him from the worse place imaginable.

It was clear that I wasn't the only one who was buzzing with nervous excitement, the air was thick of it and it was all that had been spoken about the past couple of days. Whispers from Kitty and Jubilee about how attractive Captain America was even though he was a hundred years old, Bobby recanting tales from the soldier's glory days and I had a sneaking suspicious that Kurt had packed a vintage Captain America comic from the 40s for the man himself to sign.

The only person to seem unfazed was Gambit, but he'd been aloof since the break in at the mansion. I'd been tempted to ask him about it, but decided not to, it wasn't my job to question him anymore.

"I hear that they have a Russian on their team, Piotr should've tagged along," Jubilee said to which Kitty scoffed.

"Yeah, and I've seen pictures of said Russian, there's no way I'm letting my man like within twenty feet of that woman."

"You think he'd leave you for her?" Jubilee probed, leaning forward in her seat next to me, resting her arms on the table in the middle.

"No, of course not! I just don't think any man should go near a woman with a name like Black Widow. You know what that kind of spider do, right?"

"I highly doubt the Avengers would have a cannibal on their team, Kitty." Jean spoke up from the cockpit with a laugh.

The girls I was sitting with continued with their conversation as I cast my eyes back to the trashy romance novel I was reading; in the past I would've done anything to stop people from knowing what kind of books I was into, but I didn't see the point anymore. Self-acceptance is the key to happiness! Or at least that's what I read someplace.

After reading the same line for the fifth time, I put the book down and cast my eyes about the jet, seeing that my brother was asleep with his head resting on Bobby's shoulder, Bobby was sleeping too, his head resting against Kurt's. I regretted putting my phone in my suitcase, I needed photographic proof at that moment.

The number of empty seats struck a surprising blow. While Piotr had stayed behind to help the Professor with the slow and arduous rebuilding of Cerebro's shell, with Rahne trying to scavenge some of the computer components as she'd been learning from Kitty, having the two of them here still wouldn't fill half of the jet. This jet was meant for a bigger team, while having twelve people may seem like a large number, it really wasn't enough, especially not for the current problem we were facing.

My mind drifted to Mystique, she still hadn't returned. I wasn't sure if she was still in England or if she was looking elsewhere for help; Kurt hadn't said anything, not that I'd asked, but I don't think he knew either. I had, however, asked him for her phone number, I needed to ask about Irene, demand to know why she didn't tell me, but Kurt didn't have any way of reaching Mystique; I had to bite my tongue to stop from telling him that a good mother would always make sure her children could reach her.

The slight jostle of the jet made my heart skip a beat, not because it startled me, unlike Logan who let out an uncomfortable grunt, but more that it meant we were landing. Kitty, Jubilee and I shared a look, my eyes probably shining with the same excitement as theirs.

"Oh my god, that's him!" Kitty squealed into my ear as all of our eyes fell on the man himself as he entered the room; Captain fucking America.

"He isn't in his uniform," Jubilee said, her point evident in her tone.

We were all waiting in the lobby of what used to be Stark Tower, the headquarters of a billionaire, now serving as the base for the Avengers. The owner of the building, Tony Stark, was visible disheartened that practically all of us were more interested in meeting the super solider over him, but truth be told, hardly any of us knew who he was, except for Logan and Storm who had already previously met with him, and surprisingly, Bobby, who had read a Forbes article about the man.

"Lucky Logan," the Captain greeted Logan warmly, Logan even accepted a quick hug from the man.

"I hope he hugs all of us," Jubilee whispered quickly, making herself and Kitty giggle.

Captain Rogers took a step back to look at all of us, a welcoming smile on his face. "It's nice to meet you all, I've read a lot about you guys, you've really been doing a great job."

My eyes weren't the only ones to widen at that and I felt a swell of pride fill me. I just got kudos from Captain America. _He probably only knows about recent accomplishments, you know, the ones you weren't part of,_ the Rahne in my head spat. I wasn't even aware that I had her up there, sometimes, if I'd only absorbed a small amount of someone and kept them locked away long enough, I can forget about them, I realized that I'd probably done it around the time of Apocalypse.

I dropped my head when I thought on her words. I knew the X-Men had been on the TV quite a few times in the past few years, while some people hailed them as saviors, most still recoiled in terror at the sight of a team of mutants on TV, regardless if they'd just stopped some psycho.

Snapping back to the moment, I realized that the Captain was shaking hands with the others while they introduced themselves. He was currently speaking with Kurt and I wasn't surprised that he didn't appear shocked at my brother's appearance, he was courteous and didn't seem deterred in the slightest.

"Keep an eye on Gumbo, will ya?" I jumped at Logan's voice from behind me, how could a man who's skeleton was encased in metal move so quietly? "Don't want to lose some allies because a certain someone pocketed something."

I wanted to roll my eyes at Logan, but when my eyes landed on Remy, I noticed that he'd taken interested in a small statue on the coffee table in the center of the room. While I wanted to believe that he wouldn't be so stupid, I knew that some habits were hard to shake and knowing of his past, I wouldn't put it past him.

"You must be Rogue," My eyes, which were still on Remy, widened in shock as I turned them to focus on Captain America, he knew my name?

"Rogue, yes, I'm Rogue," I inwardly cringed as I shook his hand; way to make a fool out of yourself girl, why don't you tell him about the poster of him you kept above your bed for six years while you're at it? I mentally chastised myself, but he just laughed good-naturedly.

"I've heard a lot about you, it's clear that your father's very proud of you." He said with a smile as he looked over my shoulder at Logan, before returning his gaze to me. "I look forward to working with you."

I beamed at him, a real smile that I hadn't felt in so long. Part of it was because I'd met one of my biggest childhood heroes, the other was that Logan must've told him I was actually his daughter; while he'd always made it clear he'd be there to protect me and I've always thought of him like a father, we'd never labelled it.

Still with the smile on my face, I turned to look at Logan, who looked almost embarrassed but when he saw my expression he gave me a small smile and placed his hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze before heading over to a woman who just entered the room, who immediately enveloped him in a hug.

The woman must be a model, I instantly thought, but retracted that idea when I noticed her belt which had what looked like a red hour glass on it. So, that's the Russian, I glanced over at Kitty and her eyes were on the woman, too, I began to think that maybe Jubilee was onto something when she asked if Kitty was scared of Piotr being whisked away, I would be if I were her.

I looked around the room and wasn't surprised that all of the male X-Men were staring at Black Widow, even Remy was, which may or may not have stung a little, but I shook it off; he was free to look and do whatever he wanted with other women, we're not together anymore. But as I watched him a few seconds longer, I realized that he didn't have the same look the other guys did, if anything he looked on guard as his eyes followed her across the room as she made introductions, her short red curls bouncing with every step.

Even though I could tell Remy saw me heading toward him from his peripheral, he kept his eyes on the Russian.

"You keep staring at her like that, you're gonna burn a hole in the back of her head," I quipped halfheartedly as I stood at his side.

"She's a spy, or at least was," Remy muttered, glancing at me while he spoke.

"So? She's an Avenger, she's one of the good guys."

"It'll be second nature for her to root around in other people's business."

I let out a small laugh. "You're worried about her finding some of your skeletons?"

My brief amusement disappeared when I noticed the look in his eyes; yes, he was very worried about that.

"Remy, I know you're a really private guy and want to keep it that way, but I'm pretty sure that woman has better things to do than get the dirty on you."

Gambit huffed and rolled his eyes. "Guess so, can't be too careful though."

"Hey, I'm guessing you're Rogue?" I'd been so focused on watching Gambit that I hadn't noticed the redhead we'd been talking about sneak up behind me, maybe that was a thing for the Avengers?

"Yes, hello," I gave my best welcoming smile as I shook her hand. "Seems like all y'all know about me."

"Hard not to, Little Uncle over there told us all about his daughters." She explained, tilted her head back toward Logan, it looked like he was giving Bobby a quiet lecture about something, the younger boy looking quite sheepish as he stared down at his feet.

" _Little Uncle?_ " I asked incredulously, surprised that Logan would let a name like that pass, he wasn't fond of being called out for his height. "You already know him?"

"Oh yeah, took me under his wing a while ago," The redhead responded with a wistful smile.

"Seems he has a habit of doing that." Gambit uttered under his breath, still loud enough for both of us to hear it.

"And you are?" The Russian asked with narrowed, hard eyes.

"Don't matter." He replied simply before heading toward Jubilee who was animatedly chatting with the guy who owned the building; Tommy? Timothy? No, Tony, right?

"He seems lovely, then again, there's always one on every team," Her eyes left Remy and focused back on me, a slight smile returned to her face. "It's nice that Logan's got a little family to look after, gives him a purpose, something to take his mind off all the other shit."

I nodded in agreement. "Sorry, I don't even know your name." I tried to say it in a way that wouldn't sound in the least bit offensive, worried that it might upset her to know that Logan hadn't mentioned her once.

"Oh, I'm Natasha, and if you need anything, just holler."

We'd arrived about two hours ago and now we were sitting down for dinner. I always thought the dining room at the mansion was fancy, but it was nothing compared to the one in Stark Tower. There were twenty-four chairs around a long oak table, I sat near to the end with Steve in the head seat and Tony at the one opposite, he seemed miles away.

The excitement of meeting "celebrities" had kinda worn off since we'd gotten to know them, at least the ones that were present which were Steve, Tony and Natasha, apparently the rest of the team were still returning from Latvia or something.

"We'd be happy to offer our assistance, whether you want us on the front line or simply as backup." Steve announced, mainly focusing on Logan and Storm who sat either sides of him.

"Even though it isn't really our style, you know, to be on the back burners, I think this time I'll let it pass, since you guys are probably a lot more experienced with mutants." Tony piped in from down the table, shoveling another forkful of food into his mouth and chasing it down with what I guessed was whiskey.

"So, can we stay here?" Bobby perked up, excited hopefulness in his voice. "I mean, the mansion is nice, but this place is just so . . . techy."

"Don't let him near anything expensive, he spilt Coke all over a laptop I'd only had for two weeks," Kitty grumbled to which Bobby shot what could only be described at a bitch face.

"We've got a perfectly good home already, Robert," Ororo chided gently, yet it had an undercurrent that would let a person know they should drop the subject.

"No, no, I think that would be a great idea!"

"Tony, remember the talk we had about rash decisions?" Natasha reproached, her eyes narrowed on the man.

"Think about it, Nat! It'd be better than having them flying over every time we have to ask a question – "

"There's an invention called a mobile phone, even I know that," Steve's input got a laugh from most of us; Tony just seemed to be unhappy he wasn't getting his way.

"All I'm saying, Cap, is that having us all under one roof would be better than having us spread out."

"We've been attack at our home multiple times in the past few months, we wouldn't want to bring that kind of trouble to your door." Scott reasoned, as if finally remembering that he was supposed to be the team leader.

"We'd be prepared." Tony rejoined, a tone of determination lacing his voice.

Natasha let out a small laugh before leaning across the table toward Tony, elbows resting on the table, one hand supporting her head. "That's what this is about, you want us to get attacked so you can try out your new defense system."

The billionaire spluttered on his drink, getting ready to refuse the claim, but instead the room was distracted by the loud ringing of a phone. Ororo quickly excused herself and left the dining room; the rest of us continued on with our dinner.

The rest of the meal passed in relative silence, only broken by small bits of conversation here and there. A few times Bobby and Kurt tried to get Steve to talk about his glory days but were quickly hushed by looks from Logan and sometimes Jean, even though it was clear that others, like Kitty and Jubilee wanted to hear Steve talk some more. I'd even go so far as to say Scott was hoping for some stories, he was just better at hiding his inner fan.

"Rogue," Ororo called softly from the doorway. "It's Mystique, she wants to speak to you."

I instantly tensed, the feeling of my team's eyes on me didn't help, especially not Kurt's somewhat hopeful eyes. I smiled ever so slightly in a way that I hoped would show that everything was fine as I pushed myself away from the table and headed toward the door.

Once outside the door, Ororo handed me her phone and placed her hand delicately on my shoulder, obviously meant in a way to give me strength, she quickly returned back into the dining room.

"Hello?" I said flatly after taking a deep breath to steady myself.

"Rogue, I'm glad you decided to stick around," I couldn't help my jaw clenching as her voice came through the receiver, however I noticed she had a tired undercurrent as she spoke.

"So am I," I paused, so I could take a few more deep breaths before continuing. "Thing is, I wasn't so sure about staying, thought I'd could use some advice from Irene."

I stopped, waiting for a reaction from her, instead it seemed like she was waiting for me to finish.

"You could've told me back in California, or maybe when it happened," I could feel the anger mounting up at her silence, if it weren't for her quiet breathing, I'd think she was gone. "It's not like you couldn't find me, you said yourself, the Professor kept tabs on me. Even if you didn't want to tell me yourself, you could've got him to tell me, or Logan."

Mystique didn't respond for what felt like hours. "It's not something I wanted to talk about."

"When you came to see me, you spoke about Irene and you didn't give any hint that something was wrong with her," I briefly noted that my voice was getting louder and the people still having dinner would probably be able to hear me, Logan especially, but in the moment, I couldn't really care. "You were too busy moaning about how terrible your life had been!"

"Rogue, that's not how it was at all. I was hurting," Raven inhaled audibly. "I went to London to try and get some help in finding her, I didn't want to get you all upset if it was something that I could fix."

"I'm guessing you didn't find that help," I muttered, my head dropping as I sagged against the wall.

"No, she said it was pointless which I should've known since even the Professor couldn't find Irene,"

"What happened? You've got to tell me, Raven."

"I don't know, that's the thing. I spoke to her every night I was away and then suddenly she wasn't answering my calls," She stopped and I heard a shuddering breath. "I went back to Mississippi to check on her and she just wasn't there. Nothing was out of place, but none of her belongings were missing either."

"And she didn't say anything weird beforehand, hinted at something?" I tried, but it was clear that I already knew the answer.

"Don't you think I've been going over the conversations we had constantly?" Mystique replied hotly, almost shrieking it. "Replying every detail in my mind in case I missed something?"

"Okay, I'm sorry." I jumped as the door next to me opened, Natasha came walking out looking like a model going down a runway, pausing before passing me.

"You alright?" She mouthed to me, I nodded and she continued off down the hall. From the corner of my eye I noticed her turn to glance back at me.

"Is there anything else you wanted?"

"No, I just knew _somebody_ would have told you about Irene and that you'd be wanting answers." Raven's voice was back to being monotone and bored.

"And I'm glad you were a fountain of knowledge as ever." I snapped, before she could start screaming at me I ended the call and headed back into the dining room, returning the phone to 'Ro as I passed her on my way to my seat.

"Dessert time?" Tony announced, clapping his hands together to make sure everyone's attention was on him.

"We should be heading back, now that introductions have been made. Thank you for dinner, it was lovely," Ororo said, polite as ever.

A few of my team's shoulders slumped at the prospect of leaving already. It seemed even Scott wanted to stay longer, Jean patted his arm as if in consolation.

"You haven't even met the whole team yet!" Stark complained almost like a child, it was like he never got to meet anyone other than his co-workers, Steve looked almost embarrassed at the show, massaging his temples with his eyebrows drawn together.

"I wouldn't mind seeing how the Maximoffs have turned out." Jubilee perked up.

Tony pointed at her. "See? There's still reason to hang around. Thank you, Jujubee."

" _Jubilee_." She stressed, eyes narrowing at the man who's attention had already drifted to look at Ororo pleadingly.

'Ro glanced around the table and it seemed that Bobby, Kurt, Scott and even Kitty managed to convince her as the older woman sighed. "Fine, but we really must leave soon after."

With that she excused herself, probably needing to go out and make a phone call to someone back at the mansion to say we'd be staying longer than expected.

"Don't worry, I'll sway her to change her mind," Tony faux-whispered, winking to no one in particular. Logan grunted at that. "Oh please, you probably want me to change her mind too, if I remember correctly, you didn't want to leave last time, too busy catching up with your old war buddy."

The youngers in the room, including myself, were staggered at the man's comments, normally people wouldn't push Logan like that, especially not people who hadn't known him for very long. It was obvious that Tony had enough confidence for all of us, but at this point I was wondering if he were suicidal.

It was even more surprising that Logan didn't respond, instead taking a drink from his beer.

"He probably wants to stay 'cause he gets alcohol here," Bobby piped. "Nothing like that's allowed back at the mansion."

"Watch your mouth, Ice Cube, only got two more days left of early practice, don't want to add another week." Logan threatened, it looked like Bobby wanted to cry out at the unfairness as Kurt smirked and elbowed him, apparently wanting to push him further.

Dessert lasted just over an hour and now we were sitting around in the TV room; maybe 'TV' was a bit of an understatement, it was more like a home cinema, a screen taking up a whole wall, Bobby and Jubilee were already figuring out how to convince Xavier to upgrade the 'measly' 42" TV.

"I like it here," Kurt said, dropping down on the sofa next to me. "It seems a lot more official than the mansion."

"You just like the technology," I jabbed with a soft smile.

"We should have this kind of tech, we're _superheroes_ , we're supposed to have super cool gadgets!"

I rolled my eyes and noticed that Steve and Logan looked deep in conversation, I don't think I'd ever seen Logan appear so . . . dare I say happy?

"Kurt, the Avengers kinda need all those gadgets because for the most part, they're normal humans. We, whether we like it or not, already have enhancements."

A moment of silence fell on the two of us, the soft murmur of conversation only just audible over the sound of the news report on the TV. As my eyes surveyed the room, they landed on Remy who was outside on the balcony, I wondered if he'd been told he had to smoke outside or if it was a normal thing for him to do now, maybe he'd finally become somewhat house trained.

The door suddenly swung open and it wasn't just me that was alarmed by it, almost everyone of my team instantly tensed, not knowing what to expect. Instead, it was just Stark making an entrance. However, he wasn't alone.

Quicksilver was instantly recognizable with his white hair that was swept back as ever. It took a few seconds to realize that the woman who followed him into the room was his sister, it seemed like I wasn't the only one who had ditched their goth faze. Wanda looked completely different without the heavy makeup and short hair, but I think the thing that made her even more unrecognizable was the soft smile on her face.

"You didn't say we'd have company, Stark." Pietro muttered, warily eyeing the occupants of the room.

"Don't worry, we're all friends here, now." Tony replied cheerfully, obviously he must be clued into the twins' past.

"As long as you remember which side you're on, everything will be fine." Scott announced as he walked over to Pietro, surprising the team when he outstretched him hand. Quicksilver deliberated for a moment before shaking Summers' hand, his eyes still unsure.

"The days of the Brotherhood are behind us," Even Wanda's voice was different, no longer harsh and full of spite. "We've realized that having people fear us wasn't going to help anything, least of all ourselves."

I glanced around the room to see if anyone else was shocked at the new improvement. I caught Kitty's eye, but she gestured toward Kurt. Today had sure been a day of surprises, from being starstruck by Captain America to the reappearance of a woman who used to be terrifying, but this little moment definitely won. Kurt was staring at the Scarlet Witch with wide eyes, not even blinking. A look that could only be described as awe-struck on his face, it seemed that my little brother was developing a crush.

 **A/N:** **Like I said, I was excited about this chapter as I got to bring in the Avengers, but after seeing Infinity War, it became more of a bittersweet feeling, but lets not get into THAT.**


	9. Reconciliation

**A/N:** **I AM BACK! And I'm so sorry for the long wait, I kinda got sucked into The Walking Dead and that took over my life for a couple months, but here's a new chapter! WOO HOO! Pretty sure it's the shortest yet, but I just wanted to get something out for all you lovelies who took the time to follow this story, thank you and I love you (In a completely platonic, non-creepy way).**

Ororo wasn't happy. Of course, she didn't make a big scene, but the sense of serenity that usually emanated from her was gone, replaced instead with annoyance. It was quite late, the sun had gone down just over an hour ago and it didn't look like we were leaving and since Tony had said rooms had been made up for us, Ororo was disgruntled at the lack of control she was having her. I think she was most annoyed at Logan, since he wasn't helping her.

"Tony, you do know that pretty much all of us are at the legal drinking age, right?" Bobby hinted, with a sly smirk aimed at Jubilee. This was the third time Bobby had tried to get alcohol off the eccentric billionaire, and it seemed like it would work, but since 'Ro was in the room and shooting death glares around the room, it didn't matter how much Bobby tried.

"Do you think if we give a good impression, they'd let us join?" Kitty whispered to me, casting glances to the Avengers in the room.

"You wanna switch teams?" I asked, surprised that Kitty would want to leave the X-Men.

"I don't know, they just seem to have it together a bit better than we do," She explained. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love everybody at home, but these guys are the big time."

"You want the fame and the glory, huh?"

"No! Well, maybe it would be nice to get a thank you every now and then and be recognized for doing good, instead of being labeled dangerous even after we saved people."

"If the Maximoffs can do it, I don't see why you can't." I encouraged softly, before I probably would have rolled my eyes and told her to stop daydreaming, but I'd come to realize that she was possibly the best kind of friend I could get and that instead of admonishing her, I should support her.

"I don't know about you guys, but I am _beat_." Tony announced dramatically, even yawning and stretching to prove his point.

"That's cause you're nearing fifty." Quicksilver jibed from his seat next to his sister, clearly they'd worked on their problems since that was the closest I'd ever seen them without Wanda trying to kill him.

"You know what, Pete?" From the tone of his voice, Stark was used to Pietro's comments and they'd gotten dull just as fast as he could run.

"I think I could use some sleep, too." Kurt mumbled, from the looks of it, he was already on the verge of falling asleep.

"We should all rest, so we can be out of here bright and early." Ororo suggested and most of us got the clue that we shouldn't argue back.

"You know, Stark only wants you guys around so he can poke and prod about your powers." Wanda informed Jubes, Kitty and I as she showed us to our room for the night.

"What, like experimentation?" Jubilee asked alarmed, halting in her steps.

"No, not like that," Wanda laughed. "More like he'll just ask _a lot_ of questions and may ask for some DNA samples."

"Isn't that like what Sinister wants?" Kitty probed, her eyes narrowing.

"He just wants to find ways to upgrade his tech shit and as far as he's concerned, it's all for the greater good." The witch responded calmly. "This is your room, normally there'd be enough rooms for you to have your own, but. . . I can't remember what Stark said, I usually just tune him out."

The room was like nothing I'd seen before, it was straight out of a five star. A bed that could easily fit at least four people comfortably, a TV that, while not bigger than the TV I'd already seen here, was still bigger than any of them at the mansion. It was the window that appealed to me the most; the whole wall was taken up by it, showing the twinkling lights of New York City below us.

"Not in the middle!" Jubilee instantly called as she ran and jumped onto the bed.

Both Kitty and I exchanged glances. "I can't go in the middle, I might slip up or something," I argued. "Besides, it'd be easy for you to get up, just phase through the bed."

"You do know that I'm older than the both of you, right?" Kitty whined but had obviously accepted her fate.

"I'll let you guys get settled in, if you need anything my room's two doors down on the left, I think Storm is being put on the other side of the building." Wanda informed before leaving us, shutting the door behind her.

"I'm having difficulties processing that she's the same girl that was bat shit crazy," Kit murmured, walking over to balcony doors and phasing through the glass so she could take in the scenery.

I wasn't sure what to do with myself, while I didn't get much sleep last night due to the butterflies in my stomach, I didn't feel all that tired. Jubilee was inspecting the room, opening all the drawers and touching as much as she could.

"It's fucking amazing to finally have an en suite," The younger girl announced, but frowned when she looked over her shoulder at me and then to Kitty. "Then again, I'm still having to share with you two."

I picked up the TV remote and started fiddling with it, trying to figure out how to work it; technology wasn't one of my strong suits. I didn't get very far before I heard an over-dramatic gasp from Jubilee's general vicinity.

"Guys, this bathroom is fucking _awesome_!"

02:51 AM.

I groaned as I rolled over yet again, not wanting to see the clock while being careful not to hit Kitty in the face as I threw my arm over my eyes. I'd been lying in bed for about an hour and a half and I was still wide away. My companies blissfully sleeping next to me. If I were at the mansion, it would be fine; I'd just go watch TV or go raid the kitchen, but I couldn't do that here, it'd be rude, not to mention I'd probably get lost.

Maybe it was because the room was too stuffy, I'd been tempted for a while to kick away the comforter but knew that would disturb the others. Outside would be nice and cool, though.

Crawling out of the bed as quietly and gently as I could; I pulled on my clothes. The three of us had decided that we'd sleep in our underwear, since we weren't prepared for this sleepover we didn't have a change of clothes and didn't want to be stuck in the same outfit we'd slept in tomorrow.

The chilly night air hit me like a bucket of cold water, making me realize just how hot the room had been. Even though it was almost three in the morning, cars were still maneuvering the streets below; the city was still bustling.

I sat at the small round table and took in the twinkling lights, they scared away the stars in the sky as I could only see a couple, whereas at the mansion they were the only lights in the darkness. It reminded me of Mississippi, since we were so far away from any major city and the light pollution that comes from them, I could see so many stars, I even tried counting them once, but it gave me a headache trying to keep track of them.

"Can't sleep either?" The tranquility was shattered, from the smooth voice to the right of me. Obviously, Gambit had been given the room on that side of us.

"Nope, never was too good in new places." I muttered, slowly turning my attention to him, taking in his form that leaned against the balcony, a cigarette hanging from his fingers; how many packs had he brought with him? A few beats of silence followed, he looked like he was deep in thought as he surveyed the city below him.

"Wanna go on an adventure, petite?"

"I don't think we should be sneaking around this place, never know what kind of security systems they have."

Remy chuckled and focused on me, leaning over the balcony railing toward me. "Where'd your sense of fun go?"

"That would suggest I had one in the first place," I muttered with a roll of my eyes.

"Oh, you definitely did, chérie," Gambit responded, a dazzling smile gracing his lips. "Remember that time we went to Rye beach?"

I huffed out a breath. "How could I forget that time we were stupid enough to go to a beach mid-November?"

Remy shook his head, still smiling. "It was incroyable; d'accord, maybe it _was_ cold and raining –"

"And your car got two flat tires on the way back in the middle of the night," I butted in, but a soft smile started forming on my own face as I knew where he was going.

"But what happened then? Did you want to just sit in the car and wait for Monsoir Claws to pick us up?" He raised an eyebrow, but I knew it was rhetorical. "No, you told me to keep the headlights on and turn the music up as loud as possible."

While he was talking, I cast my eyes down; the bittersweet memory was causing a lump in my throat. My eyes shot up to him though when I heard him moving, my heart lurched as I saw that he was standing on the railing, but before I could react, he jumped the small distance to land gracefully in front of me.

"And what did we do?" He asked quietly, his eyes always seemed to glow brighter at night and it was hard not to meet his gaze.

"We danced in the middle of the road to Elvis," I answered with a small laugh. "The headlights were so bright, they made me forget where we were, even with the freezing rain."

"It was fun, non?"

"Oh yeah, my favorite part was getting the flu and infecting half the house with it," I responded with faux-pride before conceding. "Yes, it was fun."

"We had some good times," Remy murmured; I was hyperaware of his hand raising slowly toward me and when he placed it gently on my cheek, it felt like electricity coursing through me.

I let out a shuddering breath as my eyes closed and I put my hand over his; I'd waited for so long for this, a simple gesture that would plague my dreams so many nights when I used to be at the mansion. Sure, he'd done the action many times but he'd always have gloves on, the difference was indescribable and left me floored. His hand was warm, soft even if calloused.

"You coulda said something," At his quiet words, my eyes opened and met his. "Even if you wanted to be alone, you coulda stayed in contact."

"I know, I'm so sorry. I was selfish and you deserve better than that."

My heart dropped as his hand did, but he didn't move away so I took that as a good sign. A heavy sigh left his lips however it turned into a chuckle.

"That's gotta be the first time Remy's ever been told he deserves _better_ ," He muttered. "Still, he thinks he should be able to make his own decisions."

Before I could question him, one of his arms went around my waist while the other shot up to grip my hair, yanking me tightly to his body causing an involuntary surprised squeak to leave my lips, however it was quickly silenced by his lips crushing mine.

My legs instantly went weak and I was grateful for him holding me up. My first real kiss in twenty-three years was definitely worth the wait; explosions, wildfires all began to scorch my mind as I tried to focus on copying the way his lips moved.

All too soon he pulled away, despite my grip on his shirt. The smile on his face made my heart soar, he looked happier and more carefree than I'd ever seen . . . and I'd helped to cause that, so I was sure my expression mirrored his, so much so that I could already feel my cheeks hurting.

"When we get back to Bayville we should go out for dinner, hein?" Remy murmured, smoothing my hair back into pack after his hands disheveled it.

"Okay." I tried to sound more confident, but it came out airily, in a way that was reminiscent of Kitty when she was in a shy, giggly mood.

"You should probably try and get some sleep, Stormy'll want to leave early."

I felt disappointed, but I knew he was right. So, I begrudgingly stepped away from him suddenly feeling much colder in the night air. I watched as he deftly leapt back over to his balcony, my heart jumping in fear even though I knew he'd be fine.

He shot me a grin before disappearing into his room. Once he was gone, I sagged against the balcony railing, the smile back on my face. _We are okay, we've moved forward, he's forgiven me._

After taking a couple deep, cleansing breaths of the bitterly cold air, I decided to go back into the bedroom even though I was doubtful I'd be able to sleep. I quickly and quietly stripped down to my underwear and crawled back into the bed I had to share with Kitty and Jubilee.

As I buried my face into the heavenly soft pillow, I heard Kitty roll over so she was facing me, I thought nothing of it, that she was just trying to get comfortable in her sleep, that is until she spoke in a whisper.

"Next time you wanna make out with your on again off again boyfriend, can you close the curtains? Or at the very least the doors?"


End file.
